Guided tours in the Agro Romano towards the origins of Roman villae, Torre Spaccata’s ‘Pratone’ and San Giovanni’s Tower for the participants of the European Heritage Days initiative.
Within the framework of the European Heritage Days 2020 and the activities of the European project OpenHeritage, Co-Roma representatives together with the community of the co-district “Alessandrino-Centocelle-Torre Spaccata” (ACT) located in South-East Rome, accompanied the participants along an itinerary to discover the cultural heritage of the district, also thanks to the cooperation of CooperACTiva and the Community for the Public Park of Centocelle (CPPC).
Heritage Days 2020 route map
The first Heritage Walk route started from Parco Rugantino and then headed towards Casale di Torre Spaccata, an ancient abandoned farmhouse built in an area rich in Roman archaeological remains, scattered within Torre Spaccata Great Park (“Pratone di Torre Spaccata”) itself, unfortunately not (yet) visible to visitors. In fact, in spite of the numerous excavation and research projects undertaken in the South-East Rome quadrant – which mostly corresponds to the territory of the ACT district – none of these has made it possible to enhance and make available to the public the archaeological remains found, which show ancient settlements dating back to Roman times and in particular the existence of patrician villae that extend along a large part of the promenade route.
Meeting point of the participants near Rugantino Park Participants stopping at Pratone di Torre Spaccata
During the stop at Pratone di Torre Spaccata, together with the guide, the participants ventured inside the path traced by the inhabitants of the district and built inside the green area, which is imagined to become a future cycle-pedestrian area and now used as a public park at the crossroads of the district areas. However, the cycle-pedestrian area idea at the moment remains only potential.
Participants in the Pratone di Torre SpaccataThe route traced inside the Pratone
Along the route, the last stop led participants to discover the history of the Tower of San Giovanni and its medieval origins.
Stop at the Tower of San Giovanni
Built at the end of the 13th century (1200-1300), like other tower-houses in the Roman countryside, the Tower was placed in control of the nearby via Casilina. In ancient times it was known as “Tor San Giovanni” because the estate on which it still stands belonged to the Chapter of San Giovanni in Laterano, as a territory of the Papal States. Only at the end of the 17th century (1600-1700) the Tower took the name “Torre di Centocelle”, because of the ruins of the nearby Roman villa of the Emperor Valentiniano, which seems to have had an infinite number of small rooms (cellae).
The Tower is over 25 metres high and is surrounded by a grove of pine trees that are now centuries old. It represents a favourite destination and place for many artists and photographers over the last two centuries.
The itinerary of the second Heritage Walk (postponed on Saturday 10th October due to bad weather) led participants to discover the Archaeological Park of Centocelle and its history.
The map of findings in the Archeological Park of Centocelle (credits to P. Gioia)
Starting from the car park in Via Casilina and along a route about 2.3 km long, the events and testimonies of the Park have been narrated to participants: from the rural villas of Roman times that re-emerged during the archaeological excavations carried out between the end of the nineties and the first two thousand, to the “first flight” of Wright on the runway inside the Park.
A snapshot during the visit to the Villa della Piscina archeological site
The walk was an excellent opportunity to make known the traditions and events that characterize the area, even to citizens who do not live in the area, handing down its cultural values for the benefit of all participants.
Participants during the visit in the Archaeological Park of Centocelle
Oggi si è concluso il secondo incontro delle #pilloledisostenibilità organizzato dall’Università Luiss Guido Carli, che ha promosso, durante le festività pasquali, attività online riguardanti tematiche ambientali.
La Clinica Urbana Interdisciplinare di LabGov 2020 ha
aderito a questa bellissima iniziativa online organizzando due pillole di
sostenibilità per rendere green questo periodo di quarantena.
In particolare, giovedì insieme ai tutor della Clinica Urbana Interdisciplinare Alessio, Julianne e Francesco abbiamo visto come realizzare un Orto in Balcone utilizzando materiali riciclati, come bottiglie di plastica e tappi di sughero, insieme ad alcuni consigli su come essere più sostenibili: “lo sapevi che anche solo cancellando le vecchie mail puoi ridurre le emissioni di CO2 nell’ambiente?”; nell’incontro di oggi invece, insieme agli altri tutor Caterina, Lorenzo, Tommaso e Flaminia abbiamo visto come preparare del gel igienizzante per le mani, come disinfettare una mascherina e come riutilizzare rifiuti organici, che altrimenti, avrebbero un grande impatto sull’ambiente!
Per nuove iniziative, seguiteci sui nostri canali social e sulle nostre pagine.
Today ended the second meeting of #sustainabilitypills organized by Luiss Guido Carli University, which promoted, during the Easter holidays, online activities on environmental issues. The Urban Interdisciplinary Clinic of LabGov 2020 joined this beautiful online initiative by organizing two sustainability pills video tutorials to make this period of quarantine greener.
In particular, on Thursday together with the tutors of the Interdisciplinary Urban Clinic Alessio, Julianne and Francesco we saw how to create a Balcony Garden using recycled materials, such as plastic bottles and corks, together with some tips to be more sustainable: “did you know that even just by deleting spam emails you can reduce CO2 emissions into the environment? “.
In today’s meeting instead, together with other tutors, namely Caterina, Lorenzo, Tommaso and Flaminia we saw how to prepare hand sanitizing gel, how to disinfect a mask and how to transform an organic waste into beauty cosmetics. We encourage everybody to follow this sustainability pills to reduce the negative impact that some activities have on the environment!
For new initiatives follow us on our social channels and pages.
Saturday, April 27th 2019, the third community gardening session of the Urban Clinic EDU LabGov has taken place in Luiss community garden #OrtoLuiss. This last appointment was dedicated to completing the construction of the material prototypes designed during this A.A. of the Urban Clinic by the students.
This appointment was dedicated to completing the construction of their material prototype that is an entry point in cities, and it is also equipped with technological elements. This entry point will link to the immaterial protoype, that want to raise awareness on issues such as sustainable agriculture, nutrition, diet, sport, tech justice and many more.
Labgovers split into groups to perfect their prototype and demonstrated great organizational and collaborative skills. But they still have some things to do and for this reason we will meet again on Saturday 4th May in Luiss!
The co-created
story of Jardim Nakamura neighbourhood
Image: Sofia Croso Mazzuco. The welcoming of Jardim Nakamura map showing the local context.
Jardim Nakamura is a peripheric community
in the city of São Paulo, in Jardim Ângela neighbourhood, and the lucky place
chosen for an urban signalling project that aims to tell the story of the territory
in order to bring a new sense of appropriation and belonging to the area. The
project called “Passeia, Jardim Nakamura”- which means “stroll, Jardim Nakamura”
– was developed by two NGO’s; SampaPé! (1), which promotes the appropriation of
the city through the genuine act of walking and occupying public spaces; and COURB
(2), which promotes the encounter between organizations that aim to strengthen
collaboration for development in the urban environment.
On a hands-on effort that occurred on
December 7 and 8, 2018 in the streets of the community, different people
participated on what is called mutirão
in Brazil (meaning bottom-up, collective action) to install three types of urban
signalling:
– the first one aiming to point directions
and walking distance to specific places within the area;
– the second one showing where people are
within the big community map;
– and the third one telling the history of
specific places (for example where the neighbourhood started or stories about
the local culture). (3)
The project clearly made it possible for
the neighbourhood to be reinserted in the history and territory of the city of
São Paulo in a different manner, since the acknowledgement that there are
stories worth being registered invites a different outlook towards Jardim
Nakamura. Children who live in the neighbourhood also participated in the
installation of the signalling through a treasure hunt game, where the finding
of a signalling spot was linked to the painting of that area with a project
symbol. Involving children in this activity aimed to help promote appropriation
of the place and the awareness of being a citizen and helping build the local
history.
The area already received many visitors before
the project was completed, for hosting a local community institution which is
an example of sustainability and circular economy – namely the institute Favela
da Paz (4), which explores different projects linked to local culture,
citizenship, music, clean energy production and the well known cooking project
Vegearte (5). This institute also partnered and gave support to the “Passeia,
Jardim Nakamura” project, for believing in the value it could bring to the
territory.
Image: Sofia Croso Mazzuco. Jardim Nakamura seen from above.
Besides the direct influence of the project
in the community, it has also contributed to the discussion of how telling the
story of a place through different lenses can help heal and bring new meaning
to a territory; something worth considering when understating the power urban
design has to influence the life of communities.
Image: Sofia Croso Mazzuco. One of the signalling showing the distance to interest places.
Save the date: next Saturday, 23rd March we will host the second EDU@LabGov community gardening session in Luiss Community Garden from 10 am to 13am.
The LabGovers will work in order to improve and complete the prototype of the platform that they are building. This session will represent a fundamental moment to practically apply what they have learnt during the first three modules in the classroom. This is not only a didactic moment, it is a collaborative practice that they will see to bud a project on which the LabGovers (students of the Urban Clinic of LabGov) are assiduously working and with passion. If you are interested in following their work, follow our official social networks!
