Foro Italico is a sports complex in Rome, Italy, on the slopes of Monte Mario. It was built between 1928 and 1938 under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and, later, Luigi Moretti. Inspired by the Roman forums of the imperial age, its design is lauded as a preeminent example of Italian fascist architecture instituted by Mussolini. The purpose of the prestigious project was to get the Olympic Games of 1940 to be organised by fascist Italy and held in Rome.

History

A phase of the transport of the Foro Italico monolith to the boarding place. The monolith was towed to Fiumicino on a pontoon, then it went up along the Tiber towed on the shore by oxen. It was the last major river transport in Rome.
The first buildings of the architectural complex were inaugurated on November 4, 1932: they were Palazzo H, the seat of the Fascist School of Physical Education; the so-called "Monolith"; the Stadio dei Marmi; the Stadio dei Cipressi (then Stadio dei Centomila and now Stadio Olimpico).

In 1936 and, subsequently, until 1941, Luigi Moretti - former author of the Accademia di scherma al Foro Italico - worked out designs that, while incorporating Del Debbio's urban plan, involved an expansion of the Foro towards Tor di Quinto; these designs were never put into practice.

Italian Open (tennis)

The Italian Open (in top picture) (Italian: Internazionali d'Italia; literally: Italy's Internationals), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournaments in the world with the men's competition being an ATP Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women's competition technically being a WTA 1000 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The two events were combined in 2011. The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May. The event is also known as the "Rome Masters" for male edition, as well as sponsored name "Internazionali BNL d'Italia". Rafael Nadal has won the men's singles title a record ten times.