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The event will celebrate the electrification of the capital by ACEA with a display of original documents, photos and videos, telling the story of over one hundred years of technological evolution, from Montemartini, the very first electrical power plant in Rome, to the energy transition


Rome, 23 October 2019 – The exhibition “1909-2019 - 110 Anni di luce. Acea e Roma. Passione e innovazione” will open tomorrow. The event is promoted by Acea and will be hosted at the Capitoline Museums in the Montemartini Power Plant in Rome. It will aim to tell the story of the unbreakable link between the Company and the city of Rome. In fact these two entities form part of the same story, which began 110 years ago when, thanks to the long-sightedness of Mayor Ernesto Nathan and councilor for technology, Giovanni Montemartini, the people decided to found AEM, Azienda Elettrica Municipale (Municipal Electricity Company), which later became ACEA.

Today, Michaela Castelli, President of ACEA, Stefano Antonio Donnarumma, CEO of ACEA, and Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, Superintendent of Rome, and the curator of the exhibition, Alessandro Nicosia, all attended the press conference for the presentation of the initiative, staged at the Montemartini Power Plant.

And this same public electricity plant, the first of its kind in Rome, will also provide the splendid setting for the exhibition, organized by the company C.O.R. The event will display documents, photographs and films - many of which never seen before-, telling the story of the last 110 years in history of the capital, in particular from the electrification perspective: the growth of the energy production, the development of the network, the construction of the plants and the constant pursuit of modernization.

The exhibition is laid out in a pathway composed of thirteen islands, notably including several dedicated to the important illumination projects staged to mark the major events of last century, such as the 1960 Olympics and the Jubilee. Another focuses on artistic and monumental illumination, showcasing examples of the many interventions staged one after the other through the years. The exhibition route will also include two focuses: one on the figures of Nathan and Montemartini, and the other on none other than the exhibition venue, the former Electrical Power Station, which is now the headquarters of the Museo Centrale Montemartini. The fascinating story of this industrial site, which began with the laying of the first stone of the Thermal Power Station then known as San Paolo in 1912, spans the decades until the 1990s, when it was chosen to exhibit the artifacts and works of ancient art of the Capitoline Museums.

The exhibition will be open to the public from October 24th until January 26th, 2020 and the material on display, which comes from many archives, such as the Central State Archive, the Capitoline Historical Archive, the Archive of the Presidency of the Republic and naturally the Acea Archive, as well as the archives of Rai and Istituto Luce, will be collected in a catalog edited by Gangemi that tells the story of a city and that of a company whose beating heart has always been located right here.

“The Montemartini Power Plant is one of the symbols of the rebirth of Rome as a modern and European capital city - stressed the President of ACEA Michaela Castelli -. And the simultaneous birth of our Company is testimony not only to our strong bond with the city of Rome, but also to the dedication with which we have pursued this pathway of development, leading us to successfully overcome many great challenges over these last 110 years. Not to mention those that have still to come”.

“This exhibition tells the story of the City of Rome from ACEA’s intrinsic perspective as the ultimate innovator - stated Stefano Antonio Donnarumma, CEO of the company-. Today, our consistent commitment to the pursuit of modernization has increasingly become a search for a more sustainable industrial way forward. In fact now, 110 years on, not surprisingly, ACEA is undergoing a phase of exponential dynamic growth. The actions we have taken to protect our water resources, and develop the second line of the Peschiera Aqueduct, our focus on the importance of a circular economy, the way we manage the energy transition and our strong drive towards innovation are all factors on which the company is focusing, and they share a common goal: to satisfy the energy requirements of a metropolis in constant evolution”.
 

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