TAKING CARE OF ROME
TAKING CARE OF ROME
“Taking Care of Rome” is a study of 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?
A self-sown Calendula officinalis left to bloom in a gravel path.
A Pinus pinea (stone pine) pruned so the wind “moves around it, opening and closing.”
A municipal crew string trimming ancient marble fragments.
An octogenarian foraging for asparagus “per il mi risotto.”
These are acts of care that render a collective landscape aesthetic—a Roman aesthetic of care. “Taking Care of Rome” is a study of the care practices that are integral to the preservation, adaptation, and commodification of Rome’s landscape identity in the 21st century.
A Quercus ilex (holm oak) sculpted into the shape of a Roman aqueduct at Villa Pontificia.
A colossal Platanus x hispanica (London planetree) left to decay behind a bench at Rome’s Orto Botanico.
Overgrown Spartium junceum (Spanish broom) consuming a park path at Riserva naturale dell'Insugherata.
While many acts of care are aesthetically motivated (topiary, mowing), others stem from environmental policies that nonetheless have radical aesthetic implications, like leaving fallen deadwood in public landscapes. Still other care aesthetics stem from economic circumstance, like spontaneous vegetation that crowds paths at marginal city parks and obscures lesser ruins.
A giant, cloud-like Foeniculum vulgare (common fennel) grows at the base of Aqua Claudia.
A riot of Diplotaxis tenuifolia (Perennial wall-rocket) blankets a field at Parco della Caffarella.
A spontaneous Agave americana (aloe plant) spills over the edges of the scaffolded cage in Parco degli Acquedotti.
