Cultura Roma

Villa Osia was built during the thirties of the last century by Cesare Pascoletti, one of Piacentini’s pupils. The place has been restructured together with the surroundings to house the new Casa del Jazz. The three-storey building and its magnificent park, with its two and a half hectares, were confiscated from a well-known local criminal and following a number of administrative procedures and activities, was made into a multifunctional centre for musical events and activities.

The core of the centre is the main building housing a multipurpose auditorium for jazz history lessons held by major experts on the subject, listening guides for the general public, press conferences, presenting recording and publishing novelties, educational activities organised by the best Roman schools of music, readings, film reviews and live concerts, which can be recorded on the  available equipment. This centre houses a documentation area with an adequate multimedia archive, accessible via multimedia work stations, a library and a bookshop.

The park itself offers recording and rehearsal studios for both emerging and professional musicians, sleeping quarters for Italian and foreign artists wishing to reside in the structure. There is also an area with a restaurant/café, in the midst of the parkland with its green foliage, open to the public notwithstanding the activities and time-tables of the Centre.

The Casa del Jazz a unique location in Europe, offering meetings with the great names of the international jazz planet, is dedicated to minor artists as well, above all Italian ones, who go through all the various styles of this genre from Dixieland to avant-garde. The idea is to encourage and propagate jazz here in this our country, creating the chance of meeting together between musicians, producers and critics and promoting activities for the benefit of all those whose desire is to acquire knowledge. The Azienda Speciale Palaexpò is in charge of managing the structure and Luciano Linzi is the art director.

Data Sheet:
Multipurpose Auditorium: 150 seats
Rehearsal and Recording Room
Library
Multimedia Archive Room

Inauguration: the 22^nd of April, 2005