Zaha Hadid’s MAXXI plaza becomes Rome’s newest Mediterranean garden

In the Flaminio district stand some of the landmark buildings of modern and contemporary Rome: a bird’s-eye view reveals the great white dome of the Palazzetto dello Sport designed by Annibale Vitellozzi and Pier Luigi Nervi (1957), the green rectangle green rectangle framed by rows of stands of the former Flaminio Stadium, designed by Antonio Nervi with his father Pier Luigi (1959).  The three large beetle shells are the Auditorium Parco della Musica by Renzo Piano (2002), and a series of long brick-clad volumes is the former Guido Reni barracks, soon to become the Science Museum designed by the architecture studio Adat.

These strongly defined volumes are set within a heterogeneous fabric of apartment blocks, small squares and parking areas, bordered by the course of the Tiber, by roads, tram tracks, and a more or less successful attempt at a cycle path. Contributing to this interweaving is also an overlapping of curved reinforced-concrete volumes: a large building made of bands that seem to be in motion, generating multiple levels and an infinite variety of viewpoints. The Maxxi is the only architectural work that the Anglo-Iraqi designer Zaha Hadid has signed in Rome, winning the competition for a museum pole dedicated to contemporary arts, in which participated, among others, Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhas, Jean Nouvel.

In the generative form of the building, in its intentions, and in its very name (National Museum of 21st Century Arts), one can recognize a predisposition toward perpetual change — a capacity to respond to the evolving needs of art and, above all, of contemporary society. Thus, around a monolithic structure that has become an icon, we have seen the Maxxi take on new forms year after year, redraw its internal paths, open and close as if it were pulsing. And it will continue to do so: “Grande Maxxi” is the project that aims to give the institution yet another new face, reconfiguring its spaces and rethinking systems of use and energy strategies in line with principles of sustainability, inclusion, and innovation.

A first segment of the Grande Maxxi — which will also include a new building designed by the Italian-French studio LAN — concerns the regeneration of Piazza Alighiero Boetti, set to become “greener, cooler, more vibrant, more welcoming.” This open and accessible space lies in front of the museum’s main entrance and acts as a trait d’union between Via Guido Reni and Via Masaccio, the two streets between which the building is set. The square is fully part of the museum complex and was inaugurated together with it in 2010: since then, it has hosted installations, events, and concerts, and is animated every day by residents passing through, children playing, and people stopping for an aperitivo at the bar.

The area, redesigned by Bas Smets — a leading figure in contemporary landscape architecture — will replace its continuous concrete surface with a new layout centered on the planting of trees, shrubs, and long-blooming herbaceous species, tripling the amount of green space compared to its current condition. The diversity of Mediterranean plants will redefine the square not only aesthetically, but above all environmentally, helping to regulate the microclimate, mitigate heat waves, and improve air quality.

The intervention in the area adjacent to Via Guido Reni will provide shade at the entrance, alternating larger tree species — such as Mediterranean maples, Judas trees, and holm oaks — with smaller ones, including myrtles, arbutus, and other Mediterranean plants. Moving toward the heart of the square, the vegetation gradually thins: after the Aleppo pine, the holm oak, and the hop hornbeam, the greenery gives way once again to an open area, designed as an agorà for events and performances, but also for play, social interaction, and relaxation.

Further on, the presence of vegetation gradually increases: near Gallery 5, a symbolic element of the building, three jacarandas frame the square, while toward Via Masaccio the row of poplars originally included in Zaha Hadid’s design is reinstated, marking the edge of a small cavea defined by five large trees with shady canopies.

Work begins on March 17, 2026, with a presentation to the public. The new square, set to open in June, will serve as the first sign of the Maxxi’s concrete commitment to rethinking the character — and, above all, the ways in which the entire area is experienced — providing the Flaminio neighborhood with a new point of reference.