FS Italiane, Roma Termini: 70 years of history and innovation

Rome, 20^th December 2020

Seventy years of the new Roma Termini. The station of the Capital, the largest railway hub in Italy in terms of size and traffic, as well as one of the main stations in Europe, celebrates its seventh decade of a history that began on 20 December 1950, with the inauguration of the Dinosaur, the canopy over Piazza dei Cinquecento. As a symbol of the desire to make a new start in Italy, still grappling with the consequences of the war, the Dinosaur and the new Station changed the face of the old Termini that had been operating since 20 April 1873 and represented an example of modernity in the world. On the occasion of its 70th anniversary, the new Roma Termini recalls the past whilst looking to the future, ready to change face yet again with a significant redevelopment plan carried out by the FS Italiane Group.

From today – 20 December 2020 –until January 2021, Roma Termini tells its tale with a photographic exhibition scattered throughout the station. Installations, videos and images – most of which are conserved in the Fondazione FS Italiane archive – recall the stories, anecdotes and curiosities of the capital’s station. Amongst the images exhibited are also some social media snaps from Railway Heart, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane’s photographic column. The atrium and the “Galleria Gommata” house 5 installations, of which 4 are hexagonal and one pentagonal, each with a specific theme, whilst from Piazza dei Cinquecento, on the outside of the windows of the Atrium, 15 stained glass windows feature historical images in black and white. The journey continues also on social media networks, through the hashtag #Termini70, with which memories about the station can be shared.

“History and innovation have always coexisted in the Roma Termini hub,” declared Gianfranco Battisti, Chief Executive Officer and General Director of the FS Italiane Group. “Over the past 70 years, the station has welcomed and received millions and millions of travellers departing and arriving. Now it is ready to accompany them into the future with new services. Train stations will be at the heart of the smart cities of the future, being places of integrated and sustainable mobility called to express cultural, social and economic value. Putting the person and their needs at the centre, as the FS Italiane Group does, also means making the stations safer, more accessible, intermodal, pleasant and technological.”

Amongst the various operations, the plan for expanding and upgrading Roma Termini foresees the new LED lighting of the station and the Servian wall as well as the opening of the Innovation Hub of the FS Italiane Group on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the hub, and the opening of a new elevated parking lot in the first quarter of 2021. The celebrations for the 70 years of Roma Termini are also an occasion to revive and reinterpret the role of the station in terms of its relationship with the city through an international competition that the Grandi Stazioni Rail (Gruppo FS Italiane) will launch in collaboration with FS Sistemi Urbani (FS Italiane Group), RFI (FS Italiane Group) and Roma Capitale for the redevelopment of Piazza dei Cinquecento and the annexed public spaces.