“. . . . Then I look towards the west, towards Monte Mario and the dome of St Peter’s, then to the south-west where can be seen the outline of the chariot which supports the roof cornice on top of the Palace of Justice, the so called ‘ugly’ palace. I look farther south where I can see the upper part of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, a monument which has always been very much criticised and spoken of ironically, like the Palace of Justice, but in comparison with the wretched things put up by certain modernist architects who proceed with their eyes fixed on the line of the horizon, such as Le Corbusier, Wright, Gropius and others, these two buildings, unlike the aberrations of certain modern architecture, are authentic masterpieces, worthy of a Bramante or a Brunelleschi.”

(Giorgio de Chirico, The Memoirs of Giorgio de Chirico, trans. Margaret Crosland, pp.163–164.)