TAKING CARE OF ROME
TAKING CARE OF ROME
String trimming column fragments at the Foro Romano
Ruins growing furry with grasses, wildflowers, and lichens at the Foro Romano.
What are Roman aesthetics of care?
Taking Care of Rome (TCOR) is a study of Roman aesthetics of care. An aesthetic of care, as we define it, is the way that maintenance is manifest visually in the landscape.
Consider Rome’s Orto Botanico, which has a policy of deadwood retention, leaving monoliths (standing deadwood) and fallen trees wherever safe and appropriate. Deadwood provides critical habitat for birds, beetles, and countless other species of plants and animals that require dampness and decay. While this policy is ecologically motivated, the appearance of deadwood has somewhat radical aesthetic implications and shifts our understanding of who the landscape serves.
Conversely, a policy of deadwood removal, which is practiced in Rome’s villa gardens and is typical in the U.S., is an act of maintenance that prioritizes neatness and denies the role of decay in landscape processes.
Spartium junceum (Spanish Broom) encloses a path at Riserva Naturale dell'Insugherata
A giant, cloud-like Foeniculum vulgare (common fennel) grows at the base of Aqua Claudia
Diplotaxis tenuifolia (Perennial wall-rocket) blankets a hillside at Parco Della Caffarella
A colossal Platanus × hispanica (London plane tree) behind a bench at the Orto Botanico
TCOR is also a study of the value systems that shape Roman landscapes: what is worth nurturing or protecting? How much neglect is permissible, and where? When does a neglected landscape become a rewilded landscape and begin to accrue the benefits of spontaneous naturalization, like increased biodiversity and carbon sequestration?
TCOR seeks out moments of abundance that become possible when maintenance practices are eased or altered, like a giant, cloud-like mass of fennel at Parco degli Acquedotti or a multi-hectare eruption of electric-yellow wall-rocket on a former agricultural field at Parco della Caffarella.
TCOR documents the jarring juxtaposition of invaluable ancient monuments and high-emission, diesel-powered, two-stroke trimmers and leaf blowers.
While the landscape around ruins is subject to "mow, blow, and go" care, the artifacts themselves are safe from harsh maintenance practices. Spontaneous growth on ruins is not merely tolerated but integral to the presentation of modern archeological sites. The city maintains that this is not aesthetically motivated: it is simply an impossible task to manage growth city-wide. As a result, there is a rare level of urban biodiversity in the 50-hectare zone that stretches from the Roman Forum to the Baths of Caracalla.