The Eur district of Rome is the financial and business centre of the Italian capital and the southern part of the country, and was built almost entirely in the first part of the last century under the watchful eye of Benito Mussolini and his administration. Construction would, had the second world war not interrupted, have continued from the city all the way to the coast, embodying the ill-fated dictator's dream of creating a European metropolis and economic fortress. The distinctive architecture is highly representative of the era, the gleaming white facades interlined with grassy knolls and trees and even a man-made lake in the centre of a tranquil park betraying an almost fantastical vision of ancient Imperial Rome in the 20th century.