Ulisse Stacchini won the last competition in 1912 with the project In Motu Vita. Victor Emmanuel III laid the cornerstone on April 28, 1906. Work slowed during World War I and resumed in 1925, and the station opened officially on July 1, 1931. The article describes an eclectic Assyrian-Lombard style that blends many styles, especially Liberty and Art Deco.
The facade is 656 feet (200 m) wide, and the vault is 236 feet (72 m) high, a record when built. The station has 24 platforms and 24 tracks. Steel canopies added by Alberto Fava are 1,119 feet (341 m) long and cover 716,000 square feet (66,500 m²).
Mussolini's rise to Prime Minister accelerated the resumed work, and Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano attended the opening. The unrestored Royal Hall, designed by Stacchini in 1931, has a waiting room with swastikas on the floor, reportedly designed to receive Adolf Hitler.
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