L’espansione del quadrante occidentale della Capitale negli anni Cinquanta e il complesso architettonico della Congregazione di Santa Croce oggi Istituto Storico Germanico di Roma

At the end of the Second World War, Rome was undergoing a period of great turmoil and renewal with a significant increase in population. The urban future of the Republican Capital had to be planned by reforming now obsolete urban planning tools. Several Urban Plans were devised that show an intention to expand towards the eastern quadrant of the Capital – to the detriment of urban planning in the western sector near the Vatican. At the same time, the deleterious social and economic consequences of the war led to a considerable increase in religious vocations in Italy. In this complex social and urban context that saw the planning of the modern capital, various religious buildings in the western sector of Rome were constructed with the objective of educating religious and addressing the lack of State-provisioned services. Several architects known to be spiritually close to Christian charism were involved. Following these events, Studio Passarelli designed the Curia Generalizia and the College of the Holy Cross-Congregation in Via Aurelia Antica. In the 1970s, the building was sold and became home to the German Historical Institute (DHI).