The sequence of events that led to the 1951 transfer of the permanent headquarters of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from far-off Washington to Rome is well-recorded. Another familiar story is that of how, after numerous appraisals, the site for the new headquarters of the FAO came to be chosen in one of the most beautiful areas of the eternal city: Aventine Hill. The Italian government — aware of the momentous impact of the event on the renewed international standing of a country still partially under reconstruction following the end of the war — offered what was intended to be the headquarters of Mussolini’s Ministry of Italian Africa, left unfinished due to the Second World War.

What is less well known is that the Italian government tasked the Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni (INA) and the INAIL (Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority), with overseeing the acquisition of buildings either adjacent or within easy reach, to meet the housing needs of the FAO’s employees. This task, carried out by the two Italian public entities, was raised and recognised in a pamphlet published by the Italian National Committee of the FAO in 1951 entitled “Report into the Transfer to Italy of the Permanent Headquarters of the FAO”. For this purpose, the INA acquired three buildings: one in Via di Villa Chigi (today’s Via Nicolò Piccinni), one in Via Marco Polo and one in Via Vescia.