G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers' Meeting
The G8 Justice and Interior Ministers' Meeting is to be held in Rome's "Alcide De Gasperi" International Conference Centre, which was inaugurated when Italy held the European Council presidency for six months back in 1990. On the first day of the meeting, a ceremony will be held to commemorate Judge Giovanni Falcone in the Aula Magna (or Great Hall) of the Palazzo di Giustizia, home to the Court of Cassation, Italy's supreme court.
The Palazzo di Giustizia is an imposing, monumental building in neo-Baroque style overlooking the river Tiber. It took 22 years to build and was inaugurated in 1910. It appears to be built out of travertine, but in actual fact the travertine is merely a cladding because the core of the building is in reinforced concrete. This was one of the very earliest examples of the use of that building technique in Europe. The group of sculpted figures dominating the building symbolizes Justice seated between Law and Strength.
The people of Rome, who have always tended to be sceptical about the building, the construction of which was halted by criticism and controversy on more than one occasion, have christened it "Er Palazzaccio" - the "Ugly Great Building", in Roman dialect -- both on account of its imposing physical aspect and on account of its function.
