Quartiere Coppedè (the specific architectural complex in Rome's Trieste neighborhood, accessible from Piazza Buenos Aires or Via Tagliamento, 2km north of the Villa Borghese, accessible by tram 3 from Largo Argentina or by the tram 19 from Piazza del Risorgimento): the 26-building architectural complex designed by the Florentine architect Gino Coppedè between 1916 and 1927, commissioned by the Società Anonima Costruzioni Edilizie as a high-end residential development in the newly urbanizing Trieste area, and the result is the most visually extravagant single architectural ensemble in Rome, the specific Coppedè vocabulary (the Art Nouveau floral ornament combined with the medieval Romanesque reference, the Gothic pointed arch, the Baroque theatrical rustication, the classical frieze, and the Assyrian/Egyptian archaeological reference that the post-Risorgimento Italian eclecticism deployed simultaneously in a single building or façade) producing buildings that tourists from every tradition of architectural taste simultaneously find beautiful, grotesque, and incomprehensible.
The Coppedè paradox: the architect who built the most recognizable and most discussed architectural ensemble in Rome is among the least internationally known Italian architects of his era. Gino Coppedè (Florence, 1866. Rome, 1927) spent the majority of his career in Genoa before the Coppedè complex commission brought him to Rome for the last decade of his life. He died in 1927 with the complex substantially complete but before the final buildings were finished, and the critical tradition (the Italian architectural discourse of the 1930s-1950s dominated by the rationalist and functionalist rejection of eclecticism) dismissed his work as kitsch, the specific critical misvaluation that the post-rationalist reassessment of 20th-century Italian architectural diversity has partially reversed in recent decades.
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Quartiere Coppedè: The Buildings and the Visit
Piazza Mincio Arch
Piazza Mincio arch (the entrance arch connecting Via Tagliamento to Piazza Mincio, the suspended arch with the central chandelier lamp, the paired towers, and the specific spider-web ironwork decorating the arch soffit): the most photographed single element of the Coppedè complex and the specific point that most visitors use as their introduction to the ensemble. The arch is freely accessible from Via Tagliamento at all hours, the best photography moment (the arch with the early morning or late afternoon light catching the ironwork) is before 9:00 or after 17:00 when the street traffic is minimal.
Coppede Quartiere: tours & tickets
Compare guided tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips for Coppede Quartiere.
See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.The Frog Fountain and Piazza Mincio
The Fontana delle Rane (the Frog Fountain in Piazza Mincio, the central fountain of the Coppedè piazza with the four frogs at the base and the specific aquatic ornament program): Piazza Mincio itself (the central square of the Coppedè complex, the surrounding buildings with the specific Coppedè ornamental program: the caryatids, the grotesque masks, the zoomorphic column capitals, and the painted friezes that each building contributes to the ensemble): Piazza Mincio circuit (10 minutes, examining each building facade in sequence) is the most rewarding architectural close-reading exercise in Rome, every square metre of the Coppedè buildings offers a different ornamental program that rewards the slow-paced look that the tourist circuit habitually denies.
Q&A: Quartiere Coppedè
Why is Quartiere Coppedè so unknown to tourists?
Distance from the tourist circuit: the Coppedè complex is 2km north of the Villa Borghese and 4km from the Colosseum, not on the walking route between any two standard tourist attractions. The guidebook neglect: the major English-language Rome guidebooks (Lonely Planet, DK Eyewitness, Rick Steves) cover the Coppedè in passing at most, reflecting the general guidebook preference for the ancient and the High Renaissance over the 20th-century eclectic. The Instagram discovery: the Coppedè has been gradually "discovered" by the travel photography community from 2015 onward, and the visitor numbers have increased accordingly, but the increase from "negligible" to "small" still means Piazza Mincio typically has fewer than 20 visitors at any given time, versus the 5,000+ simultaneous visitors at the Trevi Fountain 2km south.
Internal Links
- Fotografare il Coppedè: La Piazza Mincio Segreta
- Art Nouveau Roma: Coppedè nel Circuito Liberty
- Quartiere Coppedè Fuori Stagione: La Quiete
- Roma Sconosciuta: Il Coppedè e i Quartieri Nascosti
- Architettura Roma: Dall'Antico al Coppedè
- Come Arrivare al Coppedè: Tram 3 e 19
- Trieste-Parioli: Coppedè e Villa Borghese
