Italy - Expo Paris 1937
On a large plinth rising from the river, an imposing equestrian monument by Georges Gori, representing the Genius of Fascism, stood in front of a 42m high tower with superimposed architrave porticoes, whose pillars supported twenty-four statues. This tower, dominating the central pavilion connected to a small neighbouring building, was preceded by a courtyard of honour with an Italian marble floor.
The gardens with their porphyry paved paths were enlivened by four litho-ceramic fountains.
Under the portico of the courtyard, large paintings depicted the various achievements of the Fascist regime, and on one wall, a winged Victory.
The lower floor, occupied by the Industry exhibition, was reached by stairs decorated with flowers.
On the ground floor of the tower, in a vast salon, aspects of overseas Italy, colonial products, Roman monuments from Africa. Then there was the exhibition of the Ministry of Press and Propaganda, the Gallery of Tourism with paintings representing the main Italian regions.
On the first floor was the Architecture Room, where photographs, graphics and plastic models showed the crowning achievement of the efforts made by the Fascist regime in the field of public works and sanitation and, in particular, the resurrection of the Pontine Marshes, where smiling villages had been built where miasma and fever had reigned.
This part communicated with the first floor of the Pavilion where the Salon de l'Ameublement et es Arts Décoratifs with the "ideal" flat of 1937 was located.
If you wanted to go to the upper floors of the tower, you came to the Gallery of Arts, reserved for the great painters and sculptors of contemporary Italy.
The third floor was occupied by the Salone d'Honneur, one wall of which was covered by a 100 square metre mosaic and another by a pictorial set illustrating the Labour Charter; a third wall was made of marble and a fourth wall was covered with typical coloured thermolux. The lounge was brilliantly lit by a large Murano chandelier.
Copyright By Société pour le Développement du Tourisme