Rome: origin of the name and station history
Served by: metro line 2.
Why this name?
A line 2 station in the 17th arrondissement, under boulevard des Batignolles, at the corner of rue de Rome, between Villiers and Place de Clichy. It opened a month after the Étoile - Anvers section of 7 October, which had run through it without stopping. Its name comes from rue de Rome, part of the Europe district, where streets bear the names of European cities. With Cité and Haxo, it is one of the stations with a four-letter name.
Anecdote
Its entrance, decorated with a Guimard edicule listed as a historic monument, is on the central reservation. The station is at ground level, under a silver metal deck pierced by ventilation shafts, and line 14 passes deep below without stopping there. For the 60th anniversary of Asterix, the station became « Ils sont fous ces Romains ! » (« These Romans are crazy! »), after Obelix's famous catchphrase.
Around Rome
- Parc Monceau, 1000 m away — A park created for the Duke of Chartres and finished in 1779 by Carmontelle, who laid out follies including an Egyptian pyramid, a Roman colonnade and a Dutch windmill. In 1797 Garnerin made the first silk parachute jump here.
- Théâtre Hébertot, 240 m away — A theatre from 1838 behind Gare Saint-Lazare, which hosted Sacha Guitry before taking the name of its director Jacques Hébertot in 1940.
- Musée de la Grande Loge de France, 100 m away — A unique collection devoted to the history of Freemasonry since the 18th century, with ritual objects, embroidered aprons and numismatic pieces.
- Cité des Fleurs, 1150 m away — A private lane lined with flower-covered villas and gardens, an unexpected haven of calm in the 17th arrondissement.
- Pont de l'Europe, 400 m away — A star-shaped metal bridge spanning the Gare Saint-Lazare tracks, immortalised by painter Caillebotte.