Where you rest your eyes in Roma decides half the district. At eye level there are cafés; above them there is Europe.
Two Europes
Roma’s architecture is dominated by the eclectic European styles of the Porfiriato, and two strands mix Fact. One is Neoclassical: Ionic columns, symmetrical façades and orderly fronts of cantera stone Fact. The other is Art Nouveau: ornate wrought-iron railings, floral motifs and organic curves Fact. The order of stone stands beside the curve of iron on one street.
An imported catalogue
As Ep.2 showed, Roma was a planned city oriented toward Europe. So the architecture became not a local vernacular but a catalogue picking and stacking several European styles Estimate. Where Dadaocheng’s shophouse was a form born of the need of wharf commerce, Roma’s façade was a surface displaying taste and status Estimate. Same modern architecture, opposite starting points.
The reading trick
The practical trick is the same as at the other discoveries — raise your head. The ground-floor café or shop sign tells today’s use; the wrought iron, floral motifs and eaves ornament above tell the era of building Estimate. And why these façades survive at all is answered in Ep.4 and 5 — the answer is not beauty but earthquake and regulation.