Skyscraper rises in Eternal City

ITALY: Rome's glorious cityscape, with its jumble of architecture from the ancient world to 20th-century brutalism, has just one notable omission - a skyscraper.

But this is about to change with the construction of a 30-floor tower that will drag the Eternal City's skyline into the 21st century, bitterly dividing opinion.

Construction of the 120m-high apartment block, dubbed the Eurosky Tower, is under way in the EUR district on Rome's southern flank (the district conceived by Mussolini to celebrate two decades of Italian fascism). When completed next year, the building will be among the tallest in Italy.

And it may not be the last. Rome's mayor Gianni Alemmano hosted a conference of architects last month which revealed plans for more high-profile projects.

Designer Franco Purini has conjured two vertical granite blocks linked by bridges. "We shouldn't forget that in medieval times this city was full of towers," he said.

Despite these medieval influences, Eurosky is to be "wholly eco-sustainable" with solar panels and biofuel power systems.

However, Teodoro Buontempo, in charge of housing for the Lazio region surrounding Rome, is not convinced the Eurosky Tower is the answer for Rome's deprived suburbs.

"Rome does not need eco-monsters, either vertical or horizontal," he said. "The real challenge will be to give the outskirts of the city some services - sewerage systems, wiring, roads. That's good administration."

However, it's the aesthetic argument that is raging most fiercely. The Vatican's Cardinal Giovanni Cheli told La Repubblica newspaper that he wouldn't want to see "a tower, 30m high, right in front of the Vatican".

And the Eurosky Tower appears to stick to the unwritten rule that all buildings must be lower than the famous 138m-high dome.

But Purini says: "Things are about to change. The city needs new buildings and it's going to get them."

- Independent