Hotel “Albergo Roma” & “GIACOMO PUCCINI” Cinema-theatre complex

In 1932, in one of his reports, M. Lago suggested to Mussolini that the new city needed a Hotel-Cinema theatre complex, as “a cinema and a small hotel – café would liven up the centre of the new city, attract and bring in contact military personnel of various corps with civilians, and make the buildings profitable”.  It turns out that he convinced central government, as in the construction study, the complex was placed on one side of the central square on the sea front, while on the other side, another building was placed housing the municipal services, the post office, the pharmacy, Casa Littoria and Casa del Fascio. Its construction begun in 1935, during the M. Lago government. as Messagero di Rodi reports, during his visit, the Governor of Leros, who was accompanied by the “… Public works manager, civil engineer Miari, and architects R. Petracco and A. Bernabiti…”,  saw, among others, the works in progress and the hotel.

Construction of the complex was completed in 1938, when De Vecchi was governor. On 07/02/1938, Messagero di Rodi reported that the new hotel – cinema theatre of Portolago (Lakki) opened for the public.

“LEROS” HOTEL

It was officially inaugurated on 21 April 1938, on the occasion of the annual celebration of the declaration of Rome as capital, apparently because of its name, “Albergo Roma”.  The style of the building is modern. It had 19 rooms with 29 beds, 6 bathrooms, a restaurant, billiard room, reading room, bar and two reception lobbies. The building consists of a three-storey tower, an element, often repeated in the architecture of that period, and two, two-storey wings forming a right angle shape, in a slight recess of the tower ”

The views are clean, with rectangular openings, semi-elliptical balconies with tubular railings, single decorations, eaves and frames made either of artificial stone or coated imitations of stone. They were both finished using a comb, creating alternating vertical and horizontal lines. On the ground floor of the southern and western side, there is an arcade. Its views towards the interior yard are less attentively constructed. The openings to the arcade and the main views used to have shutters and, at the back, with French dark covers. In the interior, the only decorations are some plaster frames in various cross-sections. The floors are tiled with 20×20 cement tiles, in various patterns and colours. On the roofs of the corridors and the commonly used bathrooms on the upper floor, there are openings providing natural lighting closed by glass bricks. A distinct feature is the natural lighting provided in the bedrooms , through a channel closed by a perforated cement element.

THE CINEMA THEATRE (CINEMA E TEATRO)

It is adjacent to the LEROS Hotel, named GIACOMO PUCCINI, same as the equivalent one in Rhodes.

The construction of the cinema-theatre was completed a few months later, and the official inauguration ceremony took place in October 1938. The building is shaped as a long horse shoe, the southern semi-circular view, where the main entrance is placed, being prominent. On the western view, there was an arcade starting at the hotel. The rest of the views are typical of its use, that is to say, they do not have openings, except for the exits, five on the east and three on the west, and the openings on the northern zone, where the dressing rooms and the secondary staircase are placed.

In the interior, there is a foyer with stairs going up to the relatively large balcony. The room is rectangular and has an orchestra area. The stage area is quite big, suitable for all kinds of performances and cinema projections. Curved shapes were prevalent on the side balconies, the front of the stage opening between the curtains, and the false-ceiling, where the lighting fixtures were incorporated transversally, covered behind sand-blasted glass.

The construction of both buildings is a combination of reinforced concrete, for the foundations, the columns and the ribbed slabs.

At least three different plans for this particular complex have been discovered in the archives. The architectural synthesis, especially of the hotel, presents many problems, mainly as regards the interior arrangement of bedrooms. The circular windows do not always correspond to bathrooms, and the view does not fit the floor plan.

The hotel was mainly used as accommodation for the wives and relatives of the Italian military personnel stationed in the island. The cinema theatre was used as venue for theatre performances and film projection.

We will refer in more detail to the above two complexes, in the following chapter.