This magnificent city which prides itself on a number of historic buildings of ancient neo-Romanesque, Victorian, architectural styles is mostly praised for its tranquil, crime-free atmosphere. It has also been lauded for being one of the cleanest cities of Africa for its wide-treed boulevards, political areas and districts, and space and scope for development.

Asmara was also known as “Little Rome,” because Italian dictator and colonial leader of the city, Benito Mussolini, believed it would become the capital of the Second Roman Empire in Africa.

Historical background

Asmara, is said have originated out of a union of four villages during the during the scramble for Africa in the late 19th century where Italy, after encountering stiff resistance in the Eritrean highlands, occupied Asmara in 1889

It was an Italian colony between 1890 and 1941 and the city was occupied by a large Italian community. It has been propounded that the Italian dictator Mussolini’s Fascist troops used Asmara as the base for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.

Asmara, Nacfa-Haus, Kreisverkehr Sematat Avenue.Photo: AnJo Schuch via panoramio

The Cathedral of Asmara, built in the Lombard-Romanesque style, with a Gothic tower, inaugurated in 1922. Source:commons.wikimedia

Fiat Tagliero building, a Futurist-style service station completed in 1938 and designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi. Source: tripadvisor

Asmara Town Hall,Building of regional administration in the city.Source: en.wikipedia

The Sandal Monument in Asmara.Source:asmera.nl

View of Asmara city from the top.Source:huffingtonpost