Centrale Montemartini Historical Timeline

Last updated on September 29, 2026

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A power station that ran for fifty-six years, stood empty for thirty, and became a museum by accident.

Chronology

30 June 1912 — the plant is inaugurated by mayor Ernesto Nathan, with production beginning the following day. It is the first generating station of the newly created Azienda Elettrica Municipale, the forerunner of Acea. Structural impact: the shell, the clerestory-lit halls and the crane gantries a visitor walks under are all from this build. What you see today: the Hall of the Machines and its overhead travelling crane.
1913 — the plant is named after Giovanni Montemartini, former technological-services alderman in the Nathan administration and the leading theorist of municipal ownership in Italy, who died during a debate in the city council. Structural impact: none. What you see today: the museum's name, and a politician commemorated in a building rather than a statue.
21 April 1933 — two Franco Tosi diesel engines of 7,500 HP each are inaugurated, replacing earlier and weaker units. Structural impact: the largest single objects now in the museum are installed. What you see today: the two engine blocks that the statues in the Hall of the Machines stand between.
Late 1930s — preparations for the 1942 Universal Exposition raise demand, and a third steam turbine of 20,000 kW is added with two Tosi-Steinmüller boilers rated at 45 atmospheres, requiring a new boiler hall. Structural impact: a whole additional hall is built onto the plant. What you see today: the Boiler Room, which holds much of the finest sculpture — it exists because of an exposition that the war cancelled.
1943 — under the occupation of Rome, Corrado Puccioni, the plant's original designer and by then general manager of Acea, is forced to resign for opposing the transfer of the machinery to Germany. The plant survives Allied bombing and is left as the only power station the city can rely on. Structural impact: the machinery stays in Rome, which is the reason there is any to look at. What you see today: engines that were nearly shipped out of the country.
1968 — obsolete and no longer economic, the plant is decommissioned after fifty-six years. Structural impact: generation stops; the building begins roughly thirty years of abandonment and miscellaneous use. What you see today: a plant that was never modernised out of recognition, because it was simply switched off.
October 1997 — with the Capitoline Museums under major renovation, the Sovrintendenza Capitolina moves a selection of sculpture into the restored plant and opens the exhibition The Machines and the Gods. Structural impact: Acea's restoration of the halls and machines is adapted for museum use. What you see today: the entire premise of the place, which began as a temporary measure.
2001 — the experiment is made permanent and the Centrale Montemartini becomes a museum in its own right. Structural impact: new spaces are opened and works brought out of storage. What you see today: galleries that were added after the original exhibition.
November 2016 — a new hall opens after renovation, displaying the carriages of the Train of Pius IX. Structural impact: the museum gains a hall for objects that are neither classical nor industrial. What you see today: the papal train on the ground floor.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The Centrale Montemartini was a thermoelectric power station on the Via Ostiense in Rome, inaugurated on 30 June 1912, which became the first electricity generating plant of the Azienda Elettrica Municipale, the forerunner of Acea, and was decommissioned in 1968, The Centrale Montemartini was built in the first years of the twentieth century to a design by the engineer Corrado Puccioni and inaugurated by mayor Ernesto Nathan on 30 June 1912, with production starting the following day, The Centrale Montemartini was named after Giovanni Montemartini, former technological services alderman in the Nathan administration and the leading theorist of municipal ownership in Italy and particularly in Rome, who died during a debate in the city council in 1913, On 21 April 1933 two Tosi Diesel engines of 7500 HP were inaugurated at the Centrale Montemartini, replacing the earlier engines of lower power, At the end of the 1930s, with preparations for the 1942 Universal Exposition and the consequent greater demand for electricity, it was decided to install a third steam turbine at the Centrale Montemartini capable of developing 20000 kW and equipped with two Tosi-Steinmüller boilers at 45 atmospheres, which made it necessary to build a new boiler hall, During the Second World War the Centrale Montemartini escaped Allied bombing, and in 1943 during the occupation of Rome the engineer Corrado Puccioni, at the time general manager of Acea, was forced to resign because he had opposed the transfer of the machinery to Germany, leaving the Montemartini the only power station the city could rely on, After half a century of activity the Centrale Montemartini became obsolete and, being no longer economically viable, was decommissioned in 1968; after around thirty years of abandonment and various uses its spaces were restored by Acea and from 1997 began to house the second site of the Capitoline Museums (September 2026).
Checked against Centrale Montemartini — The history of the museum began in 1997 with the transfer of a selection of sculptures and archaeological artifacts from the Capitoline Museums, which were then undergoing major renovations, to the power plant, which had not been in operation for several years, The exhibition "The Machines and the Gods" opened to the public in October 1997 with a bold layout that for the first time juxtaposed archaeology and industrial archaeology, and the interest of the public and of insiders was such that it went from a temporary experiment to a permanent museum in 2001, Since becoming permanent the Centrale Montemartini has been enriched with new spaces and new archaeological exhibits, displaying many works that had remained hidden in storage over the years, and in November 2016 following renovations the museum was expanded with a new hall displaying the carriages of the Train of Pius IX (September 2026).

Centrale Montemartini Historical Timeline

Chronology

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