The zoo was born in 1911, on a project by Carl Hagenbeck, a pioneering structure substituting cages for pits. In 1935, the architect Raffaele De Vico enriched the structure with Aviary and a Reptile space. Nevertheless, the business was not working, as the average Rome citizien preferred (still does) white pizza under a roasting sun in Ostia to boa constrictor. The animals, ceasing to be the epicenter, felt into depression: not taking care of themselves, smoking, just living during sunday’s championship when they can hear the match report via radio. But suddenly the marketing shift: it became biopark with brand new sections, the wood of wolves, and chimpanzee village.