Occupy Goes Global!

Rome

In 2020 OCC! expanded its scope and encouraged students to explore local initiatives in their city, resulting in entries from various locations. Here below you find the entries from Rome

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List of experiences: TOTAL RESULTS 10

Legambiente “#ChangeClimateChange”

By Ilaria Pretagostini

Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? 

Change Climate Change is an online platform open to everyone, but particularly aimed at young people, with the goal of collecting reports and proposals related to climate change. These lead to street mobilizations throughout Italy. The initiative is promoted by Legambiente, the most widespread environmental association in Italy. It has 18 regional offices and 1,000 local groups, with around 115,000 members and supporters.

The promoters include associations, committees and citizens. They act as key players by reporting “climate enemies” in their cities and territories to create an interactive map that supports mobilization and protest actions.

Who are the beneficiaries? 

The main beneficiary of this initiative is the environment. As stated on the platform’s website, it is described as “a large non-partisan movement made up of people who, through volunteering and direct participation, become promoters of change for a better future.”

How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change? What are the main objectives?

The platform engages with the climate through an extensive informational section enriched with multimedia content, analyzing the most impactful and climate-altering sectors. The primary focus is on energy, aiming for a phase-out of fossil fuels and a 100% renewable future.

Other objectives include improving efficiency and regeneration of cities; promoting zero-emission mobility; ensuring that food is healthy, fair, equitable, and sustainable; addressing issues related to climate emergencies and risks. The platform also identifies key “climate enemies,” such as companies, infrastructures, and power plants. Its overarching goal is to limit the global average temperature increase by 2030.

What are the main values? 

From a thorough analysis of the platform, several key values emerge:

  1. Sustainability and Innovation: promoting a lifestyle, economy, and policies that respect the planet’s limits, ensuring a future for the next generations.
  2. Collective Responsibility: actively involving the community and acknowledging everyone’s role in environmental protection.
  3. Climate Justice: ensuring that the transition to a renewable future is fair, inclusive, and considers the needs of the most vulnerable communities.
  4. Democratic Participation: providing a platform where everyone, especially young people, can express themselves and propose ideas.
  5. Education and Awareness: spreading knowledge and fostering understanding about climate issues.
  6. Cooperation, Ethics, and Respect for Nature: emphasizing collaboration and the ethical duty to protect and preserve biodiversity.

What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects? 

The platform was launched in 2015, during the COP21 in Paris, where the Paris Agreement to limit global warming was negotiated. Some effects are already visible:

  • It has raised awareness among a broader audience about the urgency of climate change.
  • It has encouraged many people to join campaigns, sign petitions, and participate in mobilizations.
  • It has created a media ripple effect, drawing more attention to Legambiente’s initiatives and climate issues in Italy.

However, the most tangible effects remain difficult to measure directly, as most promoted actions target long-term results, such as influencing public policies and lifestyles.

Who are the actors involved? What is their background? 

The involved actors are diverse, including:

  • Legambiente, the main promoter, which includes environmental experts, climatologists, ecologists, communication and marketing professionals, activists, and educators.
  • Young activists, who may be students, professionals in the field, or volunteers.
  • Local communities and citizens, including those living in areas heavily affected by environmental problems, farmers, or environmentally conscious consumers.
  • Researchers and academics, as well as journalists, influencers, digital creators, documentarians, and filmmakers.
  • Funders and foundations, international organizations and NGOs, private companies and sectors, and institutions (local, national, international).

Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? ∙ Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation? 

Institutional limits: Slow institutional responsiveness or bureaucratic delays in implementing the platform’s demands. In Italy and other countries, adopting new laws and policies is often a slow and complex process.

Social limits: Difficulty reaching less informed or less engaged social groups, or those skeptical of climate change. Socio-economic inequalities also impact active participation.

Physical limits: The platform’s reach might be limited in rural or digitally disconnected areas. Additionally, extreme weather events can hinder direct interventions.

Critical points:

  • Keeping attention high in a world saturated with digital content.
  • Translating online mobilizations into concrete actions on the ground.
  • Ensuring that proposals and demands are effectively reflected in national or local policies.

Challenges of implementation:

  • Opposition from businesses and institutions to ambitious projects.
  • Difficulty securing funding.
  • Cultural resistance to change.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? 

For replication in other contexts, the platform should:

  • Tailor its messages to the local social and cultural context.
  • Collaborate with established local organizations.
  • Ensure structural simplicity to make it easily accessible.
  • Advertise widely to reach broader audiences.

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?

Yes, the initiative has contributed to broader changes, including:

  • Legislation: strengthening Legambiente’s role in promoting ambitious environmental policies in Italy and Europe. For instance, the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) reflects growing public pressure for stricter climate goals.
  • Institutional agreements: aligning local agendas with European policies, such as the European Green Deal.
  • Sustainability and community preparedness: the initiative fosters a culture of sustainability and has supported global movements like Fridays for Future.

References

Legambiente “#ChangeClimateChange” (ITA)

Ilaria Pretagostini

Where this grassroots initiative is implemented [country, city, if possible even a more  narrow location like a neighborhood]? Who are the promoters [NGO, group of citizens,  a municipality, one individual etc., We need the names]? 

Change Climate Change è una piattaforma online dedicata a tutti, ma più nello specifico ai giovani con l’obiettivo di raccogliere denunce e proposte legate al tema del cambiamento climatico che poi sfociano in mobilitazioni in piazza in tutta Italia. Si tratta di un’iniziativa promossa da Legambiente, l’associazione ambientalista più diffusa in Italia. Contiamo infatti 18 sedi regionali e 1000 gruppi locali cui risultano iscritte circa 115mila persone tra soci e sostenitori. 

I promotori sono associazioni, comitati e cittadini: protagonisti della denuncia segnalano i “nemici del clima” presenti nella propria città e nei propri territori al fine di realizzare una mappa interattiva che supporti l’azione di mobilitazione e di protesta.

Who are the beneficiaries? 

Il maggiore beneficiario di questa iniziativa è l’ambiente; infatti come recita il sito internet di riferimento si tratta di “un grande movimento apartitico fatto di persone che, attraverso il volontariato e la partecipazione diretta, si fanno promotori del cambiamento per un futuro migliore”.

How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or  other dimensions of climate change? What are the main objectives?

La piattaforma interagisce con il clima – attraverso un’ampia sezione di approfondimento arricchita dalla presenza di contenuti multimediali – analizzando i settori più impattanti e climalteranti. Primo fra tutti quelli dell’energia, con l’obiettivo di un’uscita dalle fonti fossili e un futuro 100% rinnovabile. In secondo luogo ci si concentra sull’efficienza e la rigenerazione delle città; la promozione di una mobilità a zero emissioni; il tema del cibo affinché questo sia sano, giusto, equo e sostenibile. Infine il tema dell’emergenza e del rischio. Inoltre sulla piattaforma web si identificano anche i principali nemici del clima: aziende, infrastrutture, centrali. Sono questi gli obiettivi perseguiti dall’iniziativa cui si unisce quello da raggiungere entro il 2030 che prevede il contenimento dell’aumento della temperatura media globale.

What are the main values? [you can answer to these  questions either quoting from the promoters of the initiative (they say that their values  are xxxx) or explaining your own interpretation. What is crucial is to make clear who is  talking: is it you or the people you are reporting on?]

Da un approfondito studio della piattaforma emergono diversi valori chiave. Primi fra tutti quello della sostenibilità e dell’innovazione: si vogliono promuovere uno stile di vita, un’economia e politiche che rispettino i limiti del pianeta, garantendo un futuro per le prossime generazioni. In secondo luogo c’è sicuramente quello della responsabilità collettiva: il coinvolgimento attivo della comunità è centrale; si riconosce il ruolo che ognuno riveste nella protezione dell’ambiente. C’è poi quello della giustizia climatica che spinge ad assicurarsi che la transizione verso un futuro rinnovabile sia equa e inclusiva e tenga conto delle esigenze delle comunità più vulnerabili. A questo si collega quello della partecipazione democratica: si vuole coinvolgere tutti, in particolare i giovani, cui si offre uno spazio in cui esprimersi e proporre idee. Di conseguenza ci sono educazione, sensibilizzazione, cooperazione e infine etica e rispetto per la natura. 

What is the timeline [= when this initiative started and for how long it went or is going  on]? Are there already visible effects? 

La piattaforma è nata nel 2015 in occasione della COP21 di Parigi – Conferenza sul Clima delle Nazioni Unite, dove è stato negoziato l’Accordo di Parigi per limitare il riscaldamento globale.

Sono già visibili degli effetti: ha sensibilizzato un pubblico più ampio sull’urgenza dei cambiamenti climatici; ha coinvolto numerose persone a partecipare a campagne, firmare petizioni e prendere parte a mobilitazioni; ha creato un effetto domino mediatico che ha portato più attenzione alle iniziative di Legambiente e alle tematiche climatiche in Italia. Nonostante questo però gli effetti più tangibili restano difficili da misurare direttamente perché la maggior parte delle azioni promosse puntano a risultati a lungo termine, come ad esempio quello di influenzare politiche pubbliche e stili di vita.

Who are the actors involved? What is their background? 

Gli attori coinvolti sono diversi tra loro. C’è Legambiente, il promotore principale, nel cui background possiamo individuare esperti ambientali, climatologi e tecnici dell’ecologia oltre che professionisti della comunicazione e del marketing, attivisti esperti in mobilitazioni ed educatori. Troviamo poi i già più volte citati giovani attivisti, che possono esseri studenti, professionisti del settore o volontari; quindi più in generale comunità locali e cittadini che possono risiedere in aree particolarmente colpite da problemi ambientali oppure essere agricoltori o consumatori consapevoli. Tra questi possono esserci ricercatori e accademici oppure giornalisti, influencer, creator digitali, documentaristi e registi. E in generale possono esserci finanziatori e fondazioni, organizzazioni internazionali e ONG, aziende e settori privati, istituzioni (locali, nazionali, internazionali).

Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? ∙ Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise  from its implementation? 

Limiti istituzionali sono la mancanza di reattività o lentezza delle istituzioni nel recepire le richieste promosse dalla piattaforma. In Italia e in molti altri Paesi, il processo di implementazione di nuove leggi e politiche è spesso lungo e complicato.

Tra i limiti sociali c’è la difficoltà nel raggiungere gruppi sociali meno sensibili o meno informati sul tema e persone scettiche verso i cambiamenti climatici. Anche le disuguaglianze socio-economiche influiscono sulla partecipazione attiva di tutti i cittadini.

Invece per quanto riguarda i limiti fisici, questi possono riguardare la capillarità della piattaforma, che non sempre riesce a raggiungere le aree rurali o meno connesse digitalmente. Inoltre, eventi climatici estremi talvolta limitano le capacità di intervento diretto.

Ci sono poi anche dei punti critici, come la difficoltà di mantenere alta l’attenzione su una piattaforma online in un mondo saturo di contenuti digitali; la necessità di tradurre la mobilitazione online in azioni concrete sul territorio; il rischio che le proposte e le richieste della piattaforma non trovino effettivo riscontro in politiche nazionali o locali.

Un’implementazione potrebbe comportare l’opposizione di aziende e istituzioni a progetti ambiziosi; la difficoltà nel reperire il denaro necessario e la resistenza culturale.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? 

La piattaforma per essere replicata in altri contesti dovrebbe adattare i propri messaggi al contesto sociale e culturale di riferimento; collaborare con organizzazioni locali già affermate sul territorio; rendersi strutturalmente semplice in modo tale da risultare facilmente accessibile; pubblicizzarsi per raggiungere fasce di pubblico sempre più ampie. 

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?

Sì, l’iniziativa ha contribuito a portare cambiamenti più ampi in diversi ambiti. Il suo impatto si è manifestato in particolare attraverso il rafforzamento del dibattito pubblico e la pressione sui decisori politici, generando alcune conseguenze rilevanti. Dal punto di vista della legislazione l’iniziativa ha rafforzato il ruolo di Legambiente e altre organizzazioni nella promozione di normative ambientali più ambiziose in Italia e in Europa; ad esempio, l’approvazione del Piano Nazionale Integrato per l’Energia e il Clima (PNIEC) in Italia ha risentito della crescente pressione pubblica per obiettivi climatici più stringenti, in linea con l’Accordo di Parigi. A livello locale, invece, molte città italiane hanno introdotto misure di sostenibilità, come il potenziamento delle zone a basse emissioni, anche grazie al clamore creato da iniziative simili. Per quanto riguarda gli accordi istituzionali, ChangeClimateChange è strumento per allineare le agende locali alle politiche europee, come il Green Deal Europeo. Inoltre, grazie alle mobilitazioni di piazza, ha reso il tema climatico prioritario nelle agende di molti governi locali e nazionali e in Italia, grazie al coinvolgimento dei giovani, ha sostenuto i movimenti globali per il clima, come Fridays for Future.

Riferimenti 

The CER.TOSA Project: An interview with Paola Tartabani

Cecilia Cicchetti
Paola Tartabini is one of the promoters of the CER.TOSA project, a grassroots initiative that’s trying to change the lives of many families and activities situated in the Torpignattara neighbourhood in Rome, the capital of Italy, by cutting the cost of the energy bills while reducing the emissions needed to provide the energy. The CER.TOSA is the third energy community in Rome and was born in 2023 on the 14th of September, so it’s still much in the making, but the premises are very promising, and the popular enthusiasm is off the charts.

Title:

The CER.TOSA (Renewable Energy Community) project.

Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?

The CER.TOSA (Renewable Energy Community) project started in the small neighborhood of Villa Certosa, adjacent to Torpignattara and Mandrione, in Rome’s 5th Municipality   (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Via+di+Villa+Certosa,+00176+Roma+RM/@41.8805581,12.5336662,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x132f6219278a9fa3:0xc16c1e9bca9afee9!8m2!3d41.8805541!4d12.5362411!16s%2Fg%2F1vntxt5w?hl=it&entry=ttu )

Torpignattara, highlighted in red on the map of Rome. Rome Zona 6A Torpignattara locator map” by Sannita is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0., 

Who are the promoters?

CER.TOSA was born thanks to the joint work of the Certosa Neighborhood Committee and the environmental association A Sud.

Who are the beneficiaries?

The direct beneficiaries will be the residents of the neighborhood and in general, the members of the association that has been set up. In detail, 42 families, a school (the Carlo Pisacane plexus of the Istituto Comprensivo Simonetta Salacone), a commercial activity, the historic bakery of the Marrocchini brothers, and the CDCA – Centro Documentazione Conflitti Ambientali (Environmental Conflict Documentation Centre) – have set up the CER.TOSA as founding members.

How does this initiative engage with climate?

Energy communities are local organizations made up of citizens, businesses and institutions that work together to participate directly in the energy market, not only as consumers, but also as producers. These communities are based on principles of active participation, democratic involvement and solidarity, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the use of renewable energy at local level. Through civic participation, the sharing of renewable resources and the promotion of environmental sustainability, these communities offer a viable and concrete solution to address the challenges of climate change by fostering a just energy transition.

In addition to the energy issue, those who contributed to the creation of the CER.TOSA had also previously dealt with doing a thermal characterization of the Villa Certosa district and hypothesizing possible climate mitigation measures for the district during the summer months, in particular for Via. G. Alessi, Via di Villa Certosa and Via dei Savorgnan, which are directly affected by the neighborhood’s hot spots (Mandrione District warehouses and the former Casilina station area). These are interventions that should be carried out by the institutions, as they have to do with public health, but since they are often absent, the hope is that the CER.TOSA can be a tool to make them happen… somehow!

Photos of buildings in Villa Certosa (images by Cecilia Cicchetti)

What are the main objectives? What are the main values? 

CER.TOSA was formed around the political theme of energy sovereignty and the democratization of energy. Its objectives respond to environmental, social and economic challenges.

Environmental: energy communities promote the use of renewable sources, thereby reducing the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. They thus contribute to climate change mitigation and environmental protection by accelerating our country’s decarbonization process.

Social: the development of energy self-production policies, together with energy efficiency policies, represent the best welfare policies for households, able not only to contribute to the reduction of energy expenditure but also to improve the social life of members, thus also mitigating the growing issue of energy poverty.

Economic: energy communities can generate economic benefits for both members and the local area. Members can reduce energy costs through the sharing of resources and access to 20-year incentives on shared energy. In addition, energy communities can foster local employment in the installation and maintenance of facilities.

What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?

Our CER had a fairly rapid development: the idea was born during a public initiative in the neighborhood on 4 November 2022 organized by A Sud and the Certosa Neighborhood Committee, entitled ‘Climate: global problems, local answers’ (Facebook event here https://fb.me/e/74lsD9DZL). Then, accepting the challenge of participating in a regional call for proposals, we started with stakeholder engagement activities in February 2023.

In May, we were among the grant recipients and had to develop the project very quickly according to the timeline of the call. Thus, on 14 September 2023, the founding members officially signed the by-laws and the memorandum of association of CER.TOSA. Since then we have convened a members’ meeting and organized a public meeting where we invited both Edoardo Zanchini, director of the climate office of the Municipality of Rome, and the local administrators of the fifth municipality to speak. At the meeting it emerged that the fifth municipality is willing to support our CER.TOSA with the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof of a school. A commitment of which we still have no confirmation to date.

On 23 January 2024, after more than two years of waiting, the implementing decree was published to stimulate the emergence and development of Renewable Energy Communities and to regulate the modalities and timing for the recognition of incentives by the GSE (Gestore dei Servizi Energetici). The next steps will be to convene another meeting with members both to present the decree and to decide together whether and how to initiate popular shareholder activities to purchase the first ERC panels.

Immagine che contiene aria aperta, cielo, albero, scale

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Immagine che contiene edificio, aria aperta, finestra, muro

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Two of the beneficiaries of the CER.TOSA project: the “Carlo Pisacane” elementary school and the Marocchini Brother’s bakery (images by Cecilia Cicchetti)

Who are the actors involved? What is their background?

To date, the stakeholders involved, as mentioned above, are the residents of the neighborhood and the other adjacent neighborhoods within the same primary cabin, some private entities, some businesses and a comprehensive school. But there are many solicitations from future supporters who would like to join CER.TOSA. At this stage we are collecting memberships.

Interviewer: the Torpignattara neighborhood is inhabited by almost 50,000 people, 10% of whom are unemployed and 23% have a migration background. The state apparatuses care neither for the employment of the population nor for its integration, which is instead done at the grassroots level through the work of the neighborhood committees and especially thanks to the initiatives of the Pisacane school.

Which limits does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?

The strength of the initiative was the strong involvement of local actors, thanks to the peculiar urban conformation of the neighborhood, which resembles a small village. As explained above, it only took a few meetings to attract the curiosity and conviction of the members. This was possible thanks to a community already sensitized by the presence of the neighborhood committee, to both environmental and social issues.

The weak point is the economic issue: not being able to burden the members, it will be necessary to find both financing (crowdfunding, private foundations, some regional calls) and support from the institutions (economic and bureaucratic, for example if one wants to use the roofs of a school or in any case a public roof to install solar panels). In order to keep the attention and enthusiasm that has arisen around this project, there is an urgent need to activate the ERC members in concrete actions as soon as possible; as a participatory project, it could fall apart and be seen as a mere theoretical experiment.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?

Many organizations are asking us about how to replicate this virtuous community process. The easy replicability is guaranteed by a model that is now widespread, practiced and shared. It is full of guides on how to set up-start an energy community so there is no lack of theoretical support. What is generally difficult to ‘find on the market’ is the passion of volunteers who are activated by putting their time and skills on the line to coordinate and involve grassroots realities in the area by explaining the project and motivating the group around the potential changes and benefits to be obtained. The rest is all technical work by professionals from the feasibility study to a consultant for drafting the statute.

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?

The changes that our project will hopefully bring to the area could be (I use the conditional because we are only at the beginning of a journey that is as long as it is challenging):

  1. To stop the phenomenon of neighborhood gentrification, which unfortunately is already happening. If a family is in energy poverty because it has a dilapidated, poorly insulated and very energy-consuming house, then it prefers to move to a more peripheral area of the city, choosing a newer and perhaps more energy-efficient house.
  2. ERCs, being bottom-up initiatives, foster a participation of citizens who become active, network, nurture the community by pooling interests and responding together to the needs of the community.
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The headquarters of the Villa Certosa Neighbourhood Committee and one of the initiatives that already take place thanks to their social and democratic work (images by Cecilia Cicchetti)

References:

Tartabani, P. (2024). Interview (C. Cicchetti, interviewer) [personal communication].

Forty years of effort to safeguard the Caffarella Park

Marta Alimelli

The Caffarella Park is a piece of the Roman countryside that has remained unchanged over the centuries and is itself part of the largest park in Rome, the Appia Antica Regional Park. It covers approximately 300 hectares within the perimeter of the Italian capital and contains archaeological monuments of particular historical and cultural significance. Since 1984, the Comitato per il Parco della Caffarella, a voluntary association founded in the same year, has been carrying out intensive work to safeguard the park’s natural, environmental and historical heritage through the contribution of the neighbourhood community and interlocutions with the institutions.

Part of the Caffarella Valley and the Alban Hills in the background, by Marta Alimelli

Private orchards in the Caffarella area, by Marta Alimelli

Where this grassroots initiative is implemented? Who are the promoters? 

The regional park of the Appia Antica is located within the current IX municipality of Rome, in the south of the capital; in particular, the Caffarella area is located in the Appio-Latino district, reachable by walking from the Furio Camillo and Colli Albani stops of Rome’s Metro A. The Comitato per il Parco della Caffarella (Committee for the Caffarella Park) was founded in 1984 by some youth from the neighbourhood who lived in the area facing the park, tired of witnessing the degradation in which the area had been deteriorating since the 1960s, at that time used as a garbage dump. Since 1995, the Committee has been registered in the Lazio Region’s register of voluntary organisations, ‘culture’ and ‘environment and nature’ sections. Among the Committee’s founding volunteers is the name of Mario Leigheb, after whom one of the widest avenues through the park is named. At the end of the 1990s, some members of the Committee created the cultural association ‘Humus Onlus’, which still operates in the area today, with the aim of taking over the direct management of the Caffarella valley and assuming the role of an active collaborator of the Appia Antica Regional Park and the Municipality of Rome, through cultural events, educational activities, and cleaning and securing the archaeological areas. 

Commemorative Plaque, by Marta Alimmeli

Sign announcing that “the committee has adopted this green aeria

 in order to redevelop it” by Marta Alimelli

Who are the beneficiaries? 

Those who benefit the most from the Committee’s activities are certainly the neighbourhood community and all the people who live in or frequent the area; but also those who visit Rome from another country, passing through the Valley, have the opportunity to experience the dedication that the Committee puts into safeguarding and preserving the area. Concrete examples of this are the many benches placed in the park’s most frequented spots (especially those adjacent to roads), the dog areas, the play areas and the area equipped for outdoor training. Furthermore, a point of reference for the entire neighbourhood is ‘La Casa del Parco/Casale Vigna Cardinali’, the information and service point run by the Humus association, which, in addition to bicycle hire, cycle repair shop and guided tours, offers a refreshment area and space for organising events and presentations. This makes it very popular within the community because it is free and open to all and sundry; among other things, it is a very pleasant place to study. But in addition to human beings, non-humans can also enjoy the results of the Committee’s efforts, because in the preserved unspoilt nature of the Caffarella they have the opportunity to live and build their own dimension: animals and plants coexist and collaborate in the creation of new relationships, including farms, educational gardens, undisturbed pastures and areas dedicated to the conservation of certain bird species.

Access to the Casa del Parco/Casale Vigna Cardinali, by Marta Alimelli

Ship grazing in the Caffarella and one of the children’s play areas in the park, by Marta Alimelli

How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change? 

The initiative strongly resonates with the fight against climate change accelerated by human activities, because since its conception, the Committee for the Park has fought and continues to fight against the pollution of land and water in the Caffarella Valley caused by human activities, giving Rome a green lung in which to find relief from the heat during the summer and to be able to breathe fresh air all year round. For example, it was in the 2010s that the Committee began its work, which is still ongoing, for the purification of the Almone river through petitions addressed to the Mayor of Rome and the President of the Lazio Region. The river, sacred to the ancient Romans, who every 27 March performed the ‘Lavatio Matris Deum’, a purification rite related to the cult of Cybele, was submerged by waste in the second half of the last century. From the moment the Committee for the Park began its work to recover the river, it was discovered that two neighbourhoods of Rome were discharging their sewage into the Almone. After about seven years of battles, including complaints, petitions and solicitations to the Municipality of Rome, the Region, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, a new sewerage collector was started to stop this water pollution. In the meantime, work to clean the river of solid pollutants began in 2015. These interventions, financed thanks to citizens’ donations, are repeated every few years because, unfortunately, there are people who keep throwing all kinds of waste into the water, which gradually accumulates on the banks of the river. Another action taken against environmental pollution was urging the Municipality of Rome in 2015 to move the car wreckers that were illegally operating within the perimeter of the Appia Antica Regional Park. After a few months, the same were seized by the Judiciary for environmental damage and in 2018 remanded for trial for soil pollution of the Caffarella and the Almone river. 

Portions of the Almone river, by Marta Alimelli

What are the main objectives? What are the main values? 

The section of the committee’s website dedicated to the history and values of the association states that the association was started with the aim of eliminating degradation, expropriating the area, creating a public park within the larger complex of the Appia Antica Park, and promoting the valuable historical-artistic-naturalistic heritage of the IX Municipality. Today, as for the past twenty years, they continue to pursue these goals of caring for the park, above all thanks to donations from citizens who enable the committee to purchase agricultural equipment, and not only that, for the maintenance of the fields and pathways, to collect and eliminate rubbish, and to make the green and play areas enjoyable. In addition, urging the institutions to monitor the pollution levels of the Almone river and to secure and restore unguarded archaeological areas remains fundamental.

What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects? 

As already mentioned, the Committee has been working since 1984 and the effects of its activities are clearly visible, because otherwise today the park would be overrun with waste and scraps produced by illegal activities, just as it was in the 1960s. From the second half of the 1980s until the end of the 1990s, the association was engaged not only in collecting signatures and petitions, but also in an intense activity of publications concerning the crucial natural and historical aspects of Caffarella. An example is the book ‘La Valle della Caffarella – spiccioli di natura’, the first monograph dedicated to the naturalistic and geological aspects of the park, published in collaboration with the WWF and issued in a second revised edition in 1997. Or the text on the historical-archaeological aspects of the Caffarella Valley and the Via Latina, entitled ‘La Valle della Caffarella – la storia ci racconta’, the publication of which was financed through the self-taxation of 50,000 Lire (= 25 euros) each by 249 citizens of the Appio-Latino district. Although the book did not receive any contribution from the institutions, the information it contained was made available to the City of Rome for the drafting of the Caffarella Utilisation Plan by the Environmental Protection Office. On 9 April 2000, the ‘Parco Aperto’ party was organised, with the contribution of the IX Municipality, for the inauguration of the opening to the public of the Caffarella Park, of which 70 hectares had then been cleaned up and made usable. During the first decade of the 2000s, the Committee continued its activities to disseminate the natural archaeological heritage of the Valley, through the publications and the organisation of events. At the same time, the creation of rest areas near the park entrances was carried out, with the placement of numerous benches and the planting of several trees. In addition, the insistent solicitations to the Municipality of Rome that led to the expropriation and consequent acquisition of an additional 40 hectares of land and a number of farmhouses, the most important of which is the Renaissance farmhouse of Vaccareccia, have been fundamental. As already mentioned, in 2010 actions began for the purification of the Almone river, which continue into the present, and those for moving the car wrecks outside the boundaries of the Appia Antica Regional Park. In the ten years that followed, and which are still ongoing, the activities of pressing the institutions and those of maintaining the valley, carried out thanks to the donations of citizens, have continued unabated: dirt roads have been re-surfaced, boundary walls re-established, access gates and buildings restored, and many green areas cleared and tidied up. In short, if it wasn’t for the Caffarella Park Committee, Rome would not have this imposing and solemn piece of unperturbed nature within the city.

Renaissance farmhouse Vaccarenccia, by Marta Alimelli

Who are the actors involved? What is their background?  

As will be understood, the actors involved in the Committee’s activities are, first of all, the neighbourhood community, which, thanks to donations and voluntary work, does not fail to give strong support to the association. On the other hand, on an institutional level, the Municipality of Rome and the Lazio Region play a predominant role, to which all the Committee’s requests flow.

Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise  from its implementation?  

The Committee mainly faces the limits related to the inactivity on the part of the municipality and cutbacks by the region. Over the years, the Committee has always used its grassroots power to move, often successfully, decisions on the part of the aforementioned institutions. Examples of this are the citizens’ initiative question to the Mayor of Rome in 2011 for the construction of the sewerage collector mentioned above – a project approved by the Mayor only after being urged to do so by the Prefect of Rome, to whom the Committee had sent a complaint for not having received any response from the Mayor to the above-mentioned question – ; the denunciation presented, in 2016, by the Committee and the neighbourhood community to the Prosecutor’s Office of Rome against the degradation of the Almone river; or again, in 2019, the mass sending of e-mails to the Mayor for the resolution of the problems related to the areas expropriated ten years earlier and for the restoration of municipal funds for the maintenance of the Park. It could therefore be said that the greatest criticality concerning the Committee’s activity is its dependence on the behaviour of the institutions, since, despite the strong and heartfelt presence of the community, the management of the Caffarella cannot be carried out independently and without the action of the institutions, which should provide the primary sustenance for the safeguarding of the Park system.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? 

The power of this bottom-up initiative is, in addition to the restoration and preservation of the Park’s environment, the creation of relationships within the neighbourhood and the awareness of citizens to safeguard their Park, also through the very bonds that are established between humans and non-humans. Whoever crosses the Caffarella feels part of something extremely unusual for a city, as if as soon as they set foot in the Valley they feel welcomed by the genuine energies of the non-human. And this would not be the case if forty years ago a group of young people had not mobilised to reclaim a piece of Rome’s history and nature. So yes, the initiative would be potentially replicable in other settings, since its birth is due to the desire of young citizens to recover and defend a space, of a certain natural and cultural importance, that polluting and moreover illicit human activities were destroying. It would also be replicable because the Committee, despite being made up of a small number of people, has the support of an entire neighbourhood of Rome and this guarantees the initiative strong popular roots.

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which? 

The fact that the initiative has led to changes at the community level is unquestionable at this point, both in terms of raising awareness of the preservation of the park’s heritage and in terms of political and economic commitment. But, given the incessant interlocutions with the institutions, the Committee’s actions have also led to changes on an institutional and legislative level: an example of this is the Regional Resolution of March 2019, which establishes the management and preservation of specific portions of the Almone River by the Public Maintenance Service, and no longer the sole responsibility of the Committee.

References : 

Assocazzione di volontario Comitato per il Parco della Cafarella.(2018,March 19). Caffarella. https://www.caffarella.it/ 

Rome I Embrace – Roma 2200

Cecilia Cicchetti

“You know, it’s been ages since people have lived so peacefully.”

“Ma, when you say things like that, I think you’re getting closer and closer to collapsing.”

It was not the first time I had questioned my mother’s sanity, and she, on this occasion too, answered as she always did. The wrinkles at the edges of her mouth became deeper, her lips opened to reveal a smile with a few less teeth, and then followed her unmistakable hoarse, dark laugh.

“Why, do you really think that you’re not insane?”

The question was more than legitimate, but after all, in those years the very concept of sanity had become almost a joke, an ancient legacy of a society that had been dead for over a century. Mum used to talk about when in her mother’s time, the grandmother I never knew, there were people who studied for over ten years for this. Her words depicted an extremely peculiar ritual: people sitting or lying on very comfortable chairs, who for an hour talked to these “mind professionals” about their problems, their darkness. And these professionals, with just a few simple words, were able to banish the darkness, if only temporarily, giving incredible relief to patients who got up from their chairs feeling much lighter. Each time, to myself, I thought about how now a little darkness and a little extra weight wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Every day the sun beat down so hard on our long, thin bodies that at night, the only respite from this exposure, it was impossible to sleep close to each other because of the heat that our dry skin emanated for hours on end. The air conditioners had become completely useless because we had now incorporated the heat into every cell of our bodies. Given the overabundance of electricity produced daily, some of us kept them on all day long, but it was a matter of habit rather than the search for a solution: air can do nothing when there is no water. My mother, looking at me and my sisters, used to sigh how we, in her mother’s time, would be chosen by the best fashion brands to wear sumptuous dresses and parade on long catwalks, covered by the flashes of the photographers and the comments of the rich guests sitting in the front row. The world before my mother must have been truly strange, full of futile practices deified for the complacency of a few, and the vain hopes of many.

“Bastards, it’s their fault if we have to live like this. If only I could go back in time…”

“Let’s hear it, what would you do?”

“Giulié, I would kill them all! One by one, these cowards! First, they ruined our lives, then they went up there. I hope they all died immediately! No, I hope they suffered at least as much as we suffered here!”

“Listen to you! Angela the revolutionary! I think they got your surname wrong at the registry, it can’t be Rotili, it must be Davis!”

“Laugh all you want, but you simply cannot understand. You were born like this, you have no clue about what we were, what we could have been! For me it’s way worse, it’s like they let me eat just a little piece of fat from a big, juicy steak, only to have it taken off in front of me a few moments later! In the meanwhile, they were laughing at me, at us: can you believe it? They didn’t care about us, they had it all… you simply cannot understand, let’s not talk about it anymore”.

Indeed, I didn’t even know what a steak was.

MORNING

Every morning began the same way. The alarm clock was given by the first, fiery ray of sunlight coming through the windows, so hot that it could interrupt even the deepest of sleeps. Our flat in Porta Furba street, like every other buildings, had not been designed to shield that level of intensity of solar activity: the concrete walls became scorching hot, and you could barely walk on the floor, despite the fact that our father had covered everything with infrared-repellent ceramic. All of that work for nothing, since the engineering efforts of the previous century had failed to predict and prevent the hellish consequences of such a thinning of the ozone layer. The entire Roman population, by then almost three hundred thousand people, therefore poured into the streets at first light to reach the places of co-operation, or to continue resting in the cool areas. On my way to the cooperative, I encountered many of these cool areas, large areas of grass planted in the middle of the pavements covered by a technological ceiling, made of a layer of solar panels and a layer of micro-fiber cloth, that managed to shield the sun’s heat providing temporary relief for those who lay underneath. Usually, these areas were used during the lunch break, when we would all get away from the cooperatives to get together and eat what little we had.

Being in my twenties meant I still had the physical strength and mental ability for farm work, which is why the RSE (Roma South Est) assembly had assigned me to the Caffarella Agricultural Cooperative. Every morning, therefore, I would cycle the few kilometers separating my house from the fields, making sure not to ride on the few remaining roads that were still paved and therefore impractical because of the heat: I would pedal along Arco di Travertino street, passing under the old railway and the even older aqueduct, then right along Appia road until I turned left onto Peluso street, a steep descent that led to Shiva square. This was where the entrance to the agricultural park was, where an old marble plaque read ‘Tacchi Venturi square’, a name replaced following the directives of the SALP (Social Agreement of the Living Population) of 2185, section IX (Urban Planning) article 93 (Continuous memory, continuous struggle):

Article 93 – Continuous remembrance, continuous struggle

Every street, alley and square, especially if previously named in honor of useless and/or colonialist and/or ecocriminal and/or fascist and/or generally harmful men, must be re-nominated to allow the continuous and collective renewal of the memory of the struggle for freedom of the living world.

To the left of Shiva square was the ‘S. Cansiz’ Youth School, attended by all the girls and boys of the RSE assembly from 2 to 19 years of age; therefore, every morning, my sister Anna would sit on the roof rack of my bicycle and beg me to give her a lift so she could get to her first lesson on time. That morning she was particularly grumpy, she had the misfortune of suffering the heat much more than we did, and so she got very little rest at night.

“What’s up with you Ninnì?”

“Giù, what do you think? I’m sleepy and I don’t wanna go to school. I want to go to the cooperative with you!”

“Don’t worry, your time will come, don’t waste these last four years of school or you’ll regret it. What lessons do you have today?”

“It’s always the same… Political ecology, First aid, Collective care, Math and Medical research. I really cannot understand a single thing about Medical research, I’m always behind and whenever the teacher asks me something I don’t know what to say… what a drag”

“I feel you, I didn’t understand a thing either, but you don’t have to worry. After the graduation you are going to do whatever you want and like the most, that’s why I cooperate in the farm and, if you like it too, I’m sure that sooner than later we’ll be together in the cooperative. How cool would it be?”

She ended the conversation with a partially satisfied grunt, only because she knew that having been there, I understood her well: same classes, same professors, same vegetable garden grown for snacks. Political ecology was perhaps my favorite subject, I would listen to the professor talk for hours and hours about the extraordinary minds of some of our ancestors, while in Medical Research, just like my sister, I was really bad. However, no one had ever made me weigh that up, either in my school days or afterwards: after all, we were taught that every cooperative is of equal value when it aspires to the good of the community, a principle also written into the SALP (Section I – General Principles – Article 4 – Cooperatives and Communities).

I was especially proud of my cooperative that day, because in addition to expanding the bean, spinach and potato plantations, we had finally managed to restore the functioning of forty condensers that had been out of use for almost two years. These machines used to collect the moisture that was deposited during the night on the turf of the agricultural park, and then condense it by transforming it into drinkable and, above all, fresh water. In addition to restoring them, my comrades and I had found a way to boost the capacities of each individual condenser, which is why that morning we were all so full with excitement and anxiety: according to our calculations, if the condensers really did start working again, the availability of water per capita would return to pre-impact levels. This would have meant pure water for everyone to drink (one liter per day!) and enough fresh wastewater to ensure a daily shower for every fourth person.

“Marta, if this thing works, there’ll be a street named after us!”

“You bet Giulia! Can you believe it? Two shower per week… we’ll stink a lot less! What a dream”

“It really is a dream come true. I also think that we’ll be less hot, am I right? We’re finally going to be able to hug, even at night!”

“Giù, you’re unbelievable! We’re making Rome’s history and you’re thinking about hugging your girlfriend, unbelievable!”

“Shut up, you’re only upset because no one wants to hug you, not even your mother!”

“You know I love you but fuck you Giulia! Let’s not waste any time, we were waiting for you, milady! If it pleases you, give us the signal and we’ll coordinate for the ignition.”

This playful banter was the usual, but today wasn’t a usual day. A smile, like my mother’s but with more teeth, made its way onto my face. “Not yet,” I thought to myself, “we haven’t finished yet, no emotions, Giulia, you must concentrate”. I recomposed myself and walked to the blackboard to double-check the calculations: it was all right, everything was correct, we could proceed. Each one of us had an earpiece that allowed us to communicate at a distance, so when I shouted “Command CP23 executed” they all, at the same time, lowered the same lever on each condenser.

First the sound of one fan. Then the noise of the other thirty-nine fans joined the first one. With a trembling hand I clicked on the tank symbol on the board, and after a few seconds an inscription appeared.

         _%_91.0_::__شحنة__الخزان____

I translated aloud: ‘Tank charge: 0.19%’. There was a moment’s silence, followed by an uproar of incredulous and boisterous shouting. But I could no longer hear anything, neither the fans nor the words of my comrades. Instead, I felt a strange feeling that I had experienced only once before, on the occasion of my father’s death: slow and light, a few tears were streaming down my cheeks. This time, however, it was different.

This time I was happy.

AFTERNOON

Mum greeted me screaming with joy, apparently the news had already arrived. Heedless of the asphyxiating heat, she held me in a very long hug, but this time I did not try to untangle myself out of her slender but tight grip. For several seconds we breathed the same moist, warm air, both smiling, both hopeful as two little girls. As soon as the hug dissolved, I showed her what I had brought back from the cooperative: tied to the bicycle were two big tanks of water. My mother, incredulous, slowly approached those containers and, after just barely touching them, burst into her usual laughter.

“Giulié, you’re giving us back life!”

We decided to share the wastewater as well, so that we could all take showers even if with less water. The feeling of fresh water caressing my hot skin moved me again, but even more so did the thought that my two sisters would also be able to enjoy such a luxury as soon as they came back home. My mother and I wore our clean linen robes and went to the nearest cool area, where we found other people already resting stretched out on the soft, cool grass.

“Ma, I cried two times today. Two! Unbelievable…”

“My love, what do you have to cry about? Maybe this much water is harming you!”

She had this incredible ability to downplay everything, without which she would have survived neither the impact nor her husband’s death. She often told us about the impact, much less about our father, but, in any case, she managed to turn the memory of those events into tragicomic dramas.

“You know, I hadn’t showered with fresh water since 2175. Twenty-five years washing ourselves like we washed animals in my mother’s time, fucking hell…”

“Don’t worry Ma, it’s all going back the way it was.”

“I hope not! I don’t want things to go back and be like they were before the impact. It was a shitty world, everything was wrong. But we made them pay, so much that they ran off with their flying rubbish.”

“Here we go again with this story…”

“It’s not a story, it’s history! We did it, and now we must tell you so you can learn about it, remember about it, and then tell it again. This is how we managed to reach this peace, remembering what my mother and the other comrades have taught us.”

“Of course that’s the only way for you, mainly because I think that, when the revolution stroke, you were only a child.”

“Yeah well, I too took part in it: my mother used to fight while holding me to her chest!”

“That’s convenient! If that’s true, then I’m also a revolutionary.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! It’s a miracle that you didn’t die as a kid, you were so fragile and so tiny. Your father and I were so frightened…”

As my mother continued to narrate, I closed my eyes to fully enjoy the sound of her voice and the coolness of the grass on my neck, much less hot than usual. Immediately, however, images from ten, maybe even fifteen years ago appeared in my mind, bursting in every moment of rest to snatch me from tranquility and bring me back to reality. Images of overhanging bones, dry lips, and peeling skin; my older sister’s empty eyes, my mother’s tearful ones in front of the fire rising high from the funeral pyre. I tried to push the past and the pain out of my thoughts, concentrating on the positive things which, fortunately and despite everything, were many. The condensers, the assemblies, the days spent with my mother at the Redistributor, Roberta: thinking about her always worked. At that point I would have even been able to sleep, except that my mother’s words kept ringing out loud and clear, preventing me from any kind of rest.

“… if you think about it, in the end everything went well. The first years were terrible, everyone was stealing even though there wasn’t anything to steal. But, I mean, just here in Rome we were fifteen million people. Fifteen million! It was inevitable, with the raising temperature the Thwaites melted, and we lost antarctica. These poor people, the only way they got to keep living in their land was if they transformed into fishes! But, I mean, in the end we managed to rebuild this world. We cried a lot and we lost almost everything, but we survived, and you know why? Because the only thing we didn’t lose was love. And here we are now, never skipping a meal again. Here you are! You became such a bright and beautiful woman, look at what you did today! My love, maybe you didn’t take part in the first revolution, but you are making one now! I’m so proud of you, and your father would have been even prouder!”

Mum paused for a second, I heard her sigh deeply. Then, perhaps moved by a pity for my tired eyes, she lay down beside me and we finally managed to fall asleep, now with a smile on our lips.

EVENING

“Thank you all for coming here tonight. I am very excited because today, as I think you have heard, is a day we will remember for a long time. Thanks to the comrades of the Caffarella agricultural cooperative, all the condensers are back in service! It is an extraordinary event and will represent an amazing improvement in our living conditions, those of our daughters and all generations to come. I would say that now, finally, we can go back to thinking about future generations, and not just ourselves. But I do not want to occupy a space that is not mine, as co-chairwoman of the RSE assembly I just wanted to share with all of you my enthusiasm and joy, but now I will turn the floor over to Giulia Rotili, co-responsible engineer of the project.”

“Thank you Ada, and thank you all for being here. I too am extremely excited, today together with the other comrades we have done something really great. I don’t want to bore you with numbers and graphs, so I will briefly summaries what it means to have capacitors up and running again. Every day each of us in the RSE assembly will have one liter of fresh, pure water and two and a half liters of fresh but impure water. We have also started the construction work on one hundred and sixty new condensers, which will be completed by 2225 and will then be distributed equally to the other roman assemblies. Once we’re done with that, we will build more for ourselves as well; we estimate that by 2230 the RSE assembly, together with all the other assemblies in Rome, will have as many as one hundred and forty functioning condensers. This is the way to ensure prosperity for all of our sisters in Rome!”

Thunderous applause followed the end of my speech, I felt my legs shaking as if the ground was about to collapse under my feet. I flashed a smile, thanked my comrades again and asked if there were any questions or requests for clarification. Giosy, well known to the assembly because of their propensity to insistently pose questions on every topic discussed, raised their hand.

“I’m sorry but, I mean… why should we care about the other assemblies? I know that we always helped each other, and ok maybe it’s the right thing, but I mean… what id we build these condensers for ourselves? Wouldn’t it be better? So that in two years we’ll reach two liters of water a day, and then we can think about the other. Am I wrong?”

An uncertain applause rose from the assembly, many comrades cast glances at each other between astonished and intrigued. Giosy’s intervention was in open violation of the first article of the SALP, going also against everything that had allowed the reconstruction of a peaceful, if painful, world. I felt the blood rush to my brain, my face turning red and my heart beating wildly against my uvula.

“Comrades, forgive me if I speak like this, but I just want to say one thing: Giosy, what the fuck are you talking about? How can you think like the ones that condemned us, the ones that for centuries taught us that we always come first and that we should never think about the others! Do you really want to go back there? To killing each other for a piece of land? For a glass of warm and shitty water? How can you say these things!”

My less-than-democratic speech was greeted by applause but also a vociferous disapproval. The background buzz grew loudly, and the assembly seemed to be about to be dissolved by the co-chairs. At that point, as always happened in such cases, Roberta raised her hand and suddenly the assembly recomposed itself, as if by magic. Roberta had this capability: over the years she had earned the esteem of her comrades in all the Roman assemblies for the incredible medical discoveries her mind had helped achieve. Her aptitude for medical research became apparent from the very first classes we attended together as desk mates. Every single one of her intuition and answer amazed me: her eyes saw aspects of reality that did not exist for me, her brain was able to process that visual information in such a rigorous way that the answer turned out much simpler than it actually was, so easy that even I could understand (at times). Thanks to her skills and manners, she had become a very respected member the community, both scientific and non-scientific, despite her young age, which is why she was able to speak without having to raise her voice.

“Dearly beloved, please pull yourself together. Both speeches were out of place, in content and manner. Giulia, you know very well that in this assembly you cannot speak like this, and you cannot express yourself in this way, however right you may be. Giosy, to repudiate the constituent principles contained in the SALP is a mistake we must not commit, simply because we cannot afford it. The only thing that has given us the chance to rebuild and preserve society, production and our very lives are those very principles: we cannot leave anyone behind, we cannot recreate the inequalities that, in the pre-impact world, condemned the masses to unhappy and inhuman lives. We are finally in the state of nature, where every living being lives on love and cooperation, and we managed to achieve it only after building a community capable of providing not only the needs of the body, but also those of the soul. We cannot, we must not turn back: selfishly, it’s not convenient for us. We will work harder to shorten the time it takes to build the new condensers, but the rules of fair redistribution will not be violated. Thank you for your attention, sisters.”

The applause overpowered the grunts of Giosy, who continued to be unconvinced by what was said but, as always, surrendered to the enthusiasm of the assembly. Dissent was heard and absorbed, and eventually enthusiasm for the prospects of a more hydrated future swept through the assembly. Chairs were moved to make room for dancing, with music filling the room and our hearts. I went to find Roberta to drag her in the middle of the dance floor, which I knew would have embarrassed her. But, despite her poise, I knew that she had never been happier.

NIGHT

All that remained of the Maestoso theater was the exterior structure since the ceiling had collapsed several years ago, and the urban regeneration committee had noted that its reconstruction would be a waste of precious resources. We had collected and recycled the rubble, some of the old halls had been turned into literary and theatrical clubs, while others had retained their old function and, when possible, open-air cinema evenings took place. Years ago, Roberta and I had found a way to access the only closed hall, which immediately became our favorite place: the seats had been taken away, all that was left was the floor, the walls and the sky above. It was our little secret, and after removing the layer of concrete and regrowing the natural vegetation, it had become the place where we met every evening. Lying on the small grassland embedded in the concrete, we enjoyed the warm embrace of the silence of that place, especially after the eventful assembly of that night. Whenever we went there, we liked to look for new constellations, an activity made almost impossible by the sky full of too many stars. We had a small notebook, placed on a shelf next to it, where we took note of the supposed new constellations to which we gave the most improbable names: ‘Gerardo’, because according to Roberta it resembled her cat, or ‘The thing we use in the lab for cellular regrowth’, again an idea of Roberta’s, who sometimes forgot the names of the most important things in her everyday life. That evening, however, we did not play, we were exhausted from the day’s work and the assembly.

“So, how did it go for you today?”

“All good come on, we’re getting closer and closer to the conclusion of the research project. It’s getting close, I can feel it: once it’s done we’ll be able to stem the danger of skin cancer as well, that would be really crazy stuff.”

“Absurd yes, you’re incredible… I still don’t understand how you can think such things!”

“Well, I don’t understand how you people managed to restore the capacitors, it’s a good thing we were properly addressed!”

“Yes, they were right on the mark at school… and then, what else are you working on?”

“Thanks to the laboratory results of the Northwest Assembly Medical Cooperative, we might be able to come up with the right formula to be able to create a sunscreen that can shield almost all solar radiation. That would be a big step forward too, but we have to wait for the answers from the comrades in Afrin to make it, I’m afraid it will take a while yet.”

As Roberta continued talking, I reached out my hand towards hers and brushed against her palm. She gasped as usual, but for a different reason: it was the first time after many attempts that the contact had not caused the rising of our temperature. Roberta stopped talking, moved her hand towards mine and placed her entire palm on mine. Holding my breath, I closed my fingers and squeezed her hand. It was bearable, infinitely pleasant. Roberta resumed speaking as if it were nothing, but in her broken voice I could hear the uniqueness of the moment, so much that when I turned my head to look at her face I noticed a tear was running down her cheek, towards her ear. I moved closer and wiped it away with a kiss, and Roberta stopped talking for good. She turned her head too, with her eyes all watery, slowly placing her lips on mine. She drew back and burst into smiling tears. I took her face in my hands and rested my forehead on hers.

“Wow! I know that this is the first time that we managed to kiss, but I didn’t know you were such a crybaby! I don’t know if I want to kiss you again after this…”

“Look who’s talking! I know that you cried two times today, I talked to your mother. By the way, what’s with the crying for the condensers but not for me? I’m utterly infuriated!”

We both laughed, then I took out a handkerchief and wiped her face. We kissed one more time, then we went back at staring the sky.

“Roberta, look! I think I found a new constellation.”

“What are you talking about, it’s impossible! Where?”

“Follow my finger, right there on the right. I never saw it before, looks like two people hugging!”

“Yeah, now I see it. How cute! How should we call it?”

After a few moments of silence Roberta suddenly turned her back to me and said “we could call it “RG”, but only if you can hug me like that”. I was extremely confused, but after a little bit I understood how and where I had to put my arms: one under her neck, the other one around her between the waist and her left arm. Incredibly hard, incredibly pleasing.

“Shall we sleep here?”

“I don’t know Robbi, tomorrow we have to go to the cooperatives and neither of us has her bicycle, it’ll be difficult…”

“All right, you’re right. Let’s not think about that now, we’ll find a way.”

After all, we had always found a way, and would always keep finding it: never alone, always together. 

And, now, hugging.

Contatto – Roma 2200

Cecilia Cicchetti

“Sai, erano secoli che non si viveva così in pace”

“Mà, quando me dici ste cose penso che stai sempre più vicina al collasso”

Non era la prima volta che mettevo in dubbio la sanità mentale di mia madre, e lei, anche in quest’occasione, rispose come faceva sempre. Le rughe ai bordi della bocca diventarono più profonde, le labbra si aprirono mostrando un sorriso con qualche dente in meno, e poi seguì la sua inconfondibile risata roca e cupa. 

“Perché, te pensi de esse sana?”

La domanda era più che lecita, ma in fondo in quegli anni il concetto stesso di sanità mentale era diventato quasi una barzelletta, antico retaggio di una società morta ormai da un secolo. Mamma parlava sempre di quando ai tempi di sua madre, la nonna che non ho mai conosciuto, c’erano persone che studiavano oltre dieci anni per questo. Le sue parole dipingevano un rituale estremamente peculiare: persone sedute o sdraiate su poltrone molto comode, che per un’ora parlavano a queste professioniste della mente dei loro problemi, delle loro oscurità. E queste professioniste, con poche e semplici parole, riuscivano ad allontanare l’oscurità, anche solo temporaneamente, dando sollievo incredibile alle pazienti che si alzavano dalle poltrone sentendosi molto più leggere. Ogni volta, tra me e me, pensavo a come ora un po’ di oscurità e un po’ di peso in più non avrebbero fatto male a nessuna. 

Ogni giorno il sole picchiava fortissimo sui nostri corpi lunghi e magri, tanto che la notte, l’unico momento di pausa da questa esposizione, era impossibile dormire vicine a causa del caldo che la nostra pelle secca emanava per ore ed ore. I condizionatori erano diventati completamente inutili, perché il caldo ormai lo avevamo inglobato in ogni cellula del nostro corpo. Vista la sovrabbondanza di energia elettrica prodotta quotidianamente, qualcuna li teneva accesi tutto il giorno, ma era un fatto di abitudine più che la ricerca di una soluzione: l’aria non può nulla quando manca l’acqua. Mia madre, guardando me e le mie sorelle, sospirava sempre come noi, ai tempi di sua madre, saremmo state scelte dai migliori marchi di moda per indossare sontuosi vestiti e sfilare su lunghissime passerelle, ricoperte dai flash delle fotografe e dai commenti dei ricchi ospiti seduti in prima fila. Il mondo prima di mia madre doveva essere veramente strano, colmo di pratiche futili deificate per il compiacimento di pochi, e le vane speranze di moltissime.

“Bastardi, è colpa loro se viviamo sta vitaccia. Potessi tornà indietro ner tempo…”

“Che faresti, sentiamo!”

“Eh Giuliè che farei, li farei fuori a tutti! Uno per uno, sti bastardi vigliacchi! Prima c’hanno rovinato la vita, poi se ne sò annati lassù. Spero ce siano morti tutti subito! Anzi no, subito no. Spero abbiano sofferto, almeno quanto abbiamo sofferto noi dimenticate quaggiù.”

“Sentila che discorsi che fa Angela la rivoluzionaria! Se saranno sbajati all’anagrafe, te nun fai Rotili de cognome… fai Davis!”

“Se se, perculateme pure. Ma che ne volete sapè voi, che ce siete nate così. Non sapete che eravamo, che saremmo potute esse! È ancora peggio così, sai? È come se m’avessero fatto magnà solo il nervetto della bistecca più bona der mondo, e poi me l’hanno tolta da davanti l’occhi sti bastardi! E ner mentre ridevano pure, capito? Tanto loro bene stavano, che je fregava de noi… che ne sapete voi de quello che avemo passato, lasciamo perde va”.

In effetti, io non sapevo neanche cosa fosse una bistecca. 

MATTINA

Ogni mattina iniziava allo stesso modo. La sveglia veniva data dal primo, infuocato raggio di sole che penetrava dalle finestre, talmente caldo da interrompere anche il più profondo dei sonni. Il nostro appartamento in via di Porta Furba, come tutti gli altri edifici, non era stato progettato per schermare quel livello di intensità di attività solare: le pareti di cemento armato diventavano roventi e a malapena si riusciva a camminare sul pavimento, nonostante nostro padre avesse rivestito ogni cosa con della ceramica infrarosso-repellente. Tutto quel lavoro per nulla, dato che gli sforzi ingegneristici del secolo precedente non erano infatti riusciti né a prevedere né a prevenire le conseguenze infernali di un tale assottigliamento dell’ozonosfera. L’intera popolazione romana, ormai quasi trecentomila persone, si riversava dunque in strada alle prime luci dell’alba per raggiungere i luoghi di cooperazione, o per continuare a riposare nelle apposite aree fresche. Lungo la strada per andare in cooperativa ne incontravo tante, erano grandi aree di manto erboso piantate in mezzo ai marciapiedi coperte da un soffitto composto da uno strato di pannelli solari e uno di panno in microfibra, in grado di schermare la calura solare assicurando un temporaneo sollievo per chi vi si sdraiava al di sotto. Di solito queste aree venivano utilizzate durante la pausa pranzo, quando tutte ci allontanavamo dalle cooperative per ritrovarci e mangiare, seppur quel poco che avevamo, insieme. 

Avere vent’anni significava avere ancora la forza fisica necessaria per il lavoro agricolo, per questo l’assemblea RSE (Roma Sud Est) mi aveva assegnata alla cooperativa agricola della Caffarella. Ogni mattina, dunque, percorrevo in bicicletta i pochi chilometri che separano casa mia dai campi, assicurandomi di non passare sulle poche strade rimaste ancora asfaltate e dunque impercorribili per via del caldo: pedalavo per via dell’Arco di Travertino, passando sotto la vecchia ferrovia e l’ancor più vecchio acquedotto, poi a destra lungo via Appia fino alla svolta a sinistra su via Peluso, una ripida discesa che portava a Largo Shiva. Qui si trovava l’ingresso del parco agricolo, dove una vecchia targa di marmo recitava “Largo Tacchi Venturi”, nome sostituito in seguito alle direttive della CaSPAV (Carta Sociale delle Popolazioni Ancora Vive) del 2185, sezione IX (Urbanistica) articolo 93 (Memoria continua, lotta continua):

Articolo 93 – Memoria continua, lotta continua
Ogni strada, vicolo, largo e piazza, specialmente se precedentemente nominata in onore di uomini inutili e/o colonialisti e/o ecocriminali e/o fascisti e/o generalmente dannosi, deve essere ri-nominata per permettere il rinnovamento continuo e collettivo della memoria della lotta per la libertà del mondo vivente.

A sinistra di largo Shiva c’era la Scuola Giovanile Omnicomprensiva “S. Cansiz”, frequentata da tutte le ragazze e i ragazzi dell’assemblea RSE dai 2 ai 19 anni di età; per questo, ogni mattina, mia sorella Anna si sedeva sul portapacchi della mia bicicletta e mi pregava di darle un passaggio per poter arrivare in orario alla prima lezione. Quella mattina era particolarmente scontrosa, aveva la sfortuna di soffrire molto più di noi il caldo e quindi di notte riposava molto poco.

“Ninnì, che c’hai?”

“Giù, ma che vuoi che c’ho, ho sonno e non mi va di andare a scuola. Voglio venì a cooperà co te!”

“Tranquilla c’avrai tempo, sti quattro anni di scuola che te restano non li devi sprecà, capito? Che lezioni c’hai oggi?”

“Mah, il solito… Ecologia politica, Primo soccorso, Cura collettiva, Matematica e Ricerca medica. Solo che de ricerca non ce capisco niente, sto sempre indietro e quando la prof mi chiede qualcosa non so mai che dire… che palle”

“Eh lo so, pure io non riuscivo a starci dietro, ma non fa niente, non te devi preoccupà. Dopo la scuola farai quello che ti piace di più, per questo a me m’hanno messa ai campi, se piace anche a te vedrai che verrai con me, pensa che tajo!”

Mi rispose chiudendo la conversazione con un grugnito parzialmente soddisfatto, solo perché sapeva che, essendoci passata, la capivo bene: stesse lezioni, stesse professoresse, stesso orto coltivato per le merende. Ecologia politica era forse la mia materia preferita, avrei ascoltato la professoressa parlare per ore ed ore delle straordinarie menti delle nostre antenate, mentre in Ricerca medica, esattamente come mia sorella, ero veramente scarsa. Nessuno però me lo aveva fatto mai pesare, né ai tempi della scuola né dopo: dopotutto ci hanno insegnato che ogni cooperativa ha lo stesso valore quando fa il bene della comunità, principio scritto anche nella CaSPAV (Sezione I – Principi Generali – articolo 4 – Cooperative e comunità).

Quel giorno ero particolarmente orgogliosa della mia cooperativa perché, oltre ad aver ampliato le piantagioni di fagioli, spinaci e patate, eravamo finalmente riuscite a ripristinare il funzionamento di quaranta condensatori fuori uso ormai da quasi due anni. Questi macchinari permettevano di raccogliere l’umidità che di notte si depositava sui manti erbosi del parco agricolo, per poi condensarla trasformandola in acqua potabile e, soprattutto, fresca. Oltre a ripristinarli, io e le mie compagne avevamo trovato il modo di potenziare le capacità di ogni singolo condensatore, e per questo quella mattina in cooperativa c’era un’aria diversa, si respirava l’ansiosa ed eccitata attesa della speranza: secondo i nostri calcoli, se i condensatori avessero veramente ricominciato a funzionare, la disponibilità di acqua pro capite sarebbe tornata ai livelli pre-impact. Ciò avrebbe significato acqua pura da bere per tutte (un litro al giorno!) e acqua di scarto a sufficienza da garantire una doccia giornaliera per una persona ogni quattro. 

“Aò Marta, se sta robba funziona poi ce devono intitolà na strada pure a noi eh!”

“Avoja Giulié! Ma ve rendete conto? Due docce a settimana… pensa a quanto puzzeremo de meno!”

“Che sogno! Ma poi c’avremo anche meno caldo, no? Finalmente se potemo abbraccià quando dormimo de notte!”

“A Giulié, sei incredibile! Noi qua stamo a fa la storia de Roma e te pensi a abbraccià la ragazza tua, nce se crede!”

“Aò lasciame perde, stai solo a rosicà perché a te ‘nte s’abbraccerebbe manco tu madre”

“… ‘cci tua, lasciamo perde va! Comunque stavamo aspettando te signorinella, quando vuoi dacce il segnale e ci coordiniamo per l’accensione”

Un sorriso, come quello di mia madre ma con più denti, si fece largo sul mio viso. “Ancora no” pensai tra me e me, “ancora non abbiamo finito, niente emozioni Giulia devi concentrarti”. Mi ricomposi e camminai verso la lavagna per ricontrollare i calcoli: era tutto a posto, tutto corretto, potevamo procedere. Ognuna di noi aveva un auricolare che permetteva di comunicare a distanza, per questo quando urlai “Comando CP23 eseguito” tutte, contemporaneamente, abbassarono la stessa leva posta su ogni condensatore. 

Prima il rumore di una ventola. Poi di altre trentanove ventole che si univano alla prima. Con la mano tremante cliccai sul simbolo del serbatoio sulla lavagna, e dopo qualche secondo apparve una scritta.

         _%_91.0_::__شحنة__الخزان____

Tradussi ad alta voce: “Carica serbatoio: 0.19%”. Ci fu un momento di silenzio, seguito da un frastuono di urla incredule e sguaiate. Ma io non sentivo più nulla, né le ventole, né le parole delle mie compagne. Sentivo solo una strana sensazione, provata soltanto una volta prima di allora in occasione della morte di mio padre: lente e leggere, alcune lacrime scendevano lungo le mie guance. Solo che stavolta era diverso.

Stavolta ero felice.

POMERIGGIO

Mamma mi accolse urlando di gioia, evidentemente la notizia era già arrivata. Incurante del caldo asfissiante mi strinse in un abbraccio lunghissimo, e io, al contrario del solito, non cercai di svincolarmi dalla sua presa esile ma serrata. Per diversi secondi respirammo la stessa aria umida e calda, entrambe sorridenti, entrambe speranzose come due bambine. Appena sciolto l’abbraccio le mostrai ciò che avevo riportato dalla cooperativa: legate alla bicicletta c’erano due taniche d’acqua. Mia madre, incredula, si avvicinò lentamente a quei recipienti e, dopo averli sfiorati appena, esplose nella sua solita risata.

“La vita Giulié, ce state a ridà la vita”

Decidemmo di dividere anche l’acqua di scarto, così da poter permettere a tutte di fare la doccia anche se con meno acqua. La sensazione dell’acqua fresca che accarezzava la mia pelle bollente mi commosse di nuovo, ma ancor di più mi emozionò il pensiero che anche le mie due sorelle avrebbero potuto godere di tale lusso non appena tornate a casa. Io e mia madre indossammo le vesti di lino pulite e ci recammo all’area fresca più vicina, dove trovammo altre persone che già riposavano stese sull’erba morbida e fresca. 

“Mà, lo sai che oggi ho pianto due volte? Due! Ma pensa te…”

“Fija mia e che c’hai da piagne? N’è che tutta st’acqua te farà male?”

Aveva quest’incredibile capacità di sdrammatizzare tutto, senza la quale non sarebbe sopravvissuta né all’impact né alla morte di suo marito. A noi raccontava spesso dell’impact, molto meno di nostro padre, e, in ogni caso, riusciva a trasformare il ricordo quegli eventi in drammi tragicomici.

“Giuliè, non me facevo na doccia co dell’acqua fresca dar 2175 lo sai? Venticinque anni a lavasse come ai tempi de mi madre lavavano le bestie, che finaccia…”

“Vabbè Mà nte preoccupà, mo tornerà tutto come prima, no?”

“Ma chi ce vole tornà a prima dell’impacte! Te l’ho sempre detto, era un mondo demmerda, era tutto sbajato. Je l’avemo fatta vedè però, adavede come se ne so scappati su quei cosi volanti, sti bastardi”

“Aridaje co sta storia…”

“Non è na storia, è la storia! Se nun ve la racconto a che è servito fallo? Dovete imparà, dovete ricordà e dovete raccontà. Come pensi che l’abbiamo raggiunta sta pace? Ricordando quello che c’hanno insegnato mi madre e tutte l’artre compagne.”

“Anche perché a me me pare che te manco camminavi quando hanno fatto la rivoluzione, o sbajo?”

“Beh l’ho fatta pure io alla fine, se pensi che mi madre combatteva co me in petto”

“E certo, così so boni tutti però… allora posso dì che pure io ho fatto la rivoluzione”

“Ma lassa perde, te già è tanto che nsei morta da regazzina. Eri no scricciolo, respiravi pianissimo, non te se vedeva e non te se sentiva. Io e tuo padre c’avevamo tanta de quella paura…”

Mentre mia madre continuava a raccontare, chiusi gli occhi per godere a pieno del suono della sua voce e del fresco dell’erba sul collo meno rovente del solito. Subito però mi apparvero in mente le immagini di dieci, forse anche quindici anni fa, che irrompevano in ogni momento di riposo per strapparmi alla tranquillità e riportarmi alla realtà. Immagini di ossa troppo sporgenti, di labbra secche e pelle squamata; gli occhi vuoti di mia sorella maggiore, quelli pieni di lacrime di mia madre davanti al fuoco che si levava altissimo dalla pira funebre. Cercai di allontanare il passato e il dolore dal pensiero, concentrandomi sulle cose positive che, per fortuna e nonostante tutto, erano molte. I condensatori, le assemblee, le giornate passate con mia madre al Redistributore, Roberta: pensare a lei funzionava sempre. A quel punto sarei anche riuscita a dormire, se non fosse che le parole di mia madre continuavano a risuonare forti e chiare, impedendomi qualsiasi tipo di riposo.

“… però alla fine è annata bene no? C’è voluto un po’ e i primi anni so stati veramente tosti: tutti che rubbavano, anche se nc’era niente più da rubbasse. Ma immaggina che qui a Roma eravamo più de quindici milioni. Quindici milioni! Pe forza, co cinque gradi in più s’era sciolto il ghiacciaio gigante, il Thwaites, pensa te ancora me ricordo quer nome strano… è lì che se semo giocati l’Antartide, e poi per forza che tutta sta gente è venuta a Roma, pe potè restà a casa loro dovevano trasfommasse in pesci! Però alla fine ci siamo riuscite, l’abbiamo ricostruito sto mondo. Avemo pianto tanto, e perso quasi tutto, però je l’avemo fatta e sai perché? Perché l’unica cosa che non avemo mai perso è l’amore. E anfatti guarda te adesso, da quant’è che non digiuniamo eh? Guarda tu quanto sei diventata bella e brava, guarda che hai fatto oggi! Amore mio, non avrai fatto la rivoluzione da regazzina come me, ma te la stai a fa adesso! So così fiera di te, e papà lo sarebbe ancora de più.”

Mamma si interruppe un secondo, la sentii sospirare profondamente. Poi, forse mossa da un moto di pietà nei miei confronti dei miei occhi stanchi, si stese accanto a me e finalmente riuscimmo ad addormentarci, ora con il sorriso sulle labbra.

SERA

“Grazie per essere venute tutte qui stasera. Sono molto emozionata perché oggi, come penso abbiate saputo, è un giorno che ricorderemo a lungo. Grazie alle compagne della cooperativa agricola della Caffarella tutti i condensatori sono tornati in funzione! È  un evento straordinario e rappresenterà un netto miglioramento delle nostre condizioni di vita, di quelle delle nostre figlie e di tutte le generazioni a venire. Direi che ora, finalmente, possiamo tornare a pensare alle generazioni future, e non solo a noi stesse. Ma non voglio occupare uno spazio che non mi compete, in quanto co-presidenta dell’assemblea RSE volevo solo condividere con tutte voi il io entusiasmo e la mia gioia, ora però trasferisco la parola a Giulia Rotili, ingegnera co-responsabile del progetto”.

“Grazie Ada, grazie a tutte e tutti per essere qui. Anche io sono estremamente emozionata, oggi insieme alle compagne abbiamo fatto un qualcosa di veramente grande. Non voglio tediarvi con numeri e grafici, quindi vi riassumerò in breve cosa significa avere di nuovo in funzione i condensatori. Ogni giorno ognuna di noi dell’assemblea RSE avrà a disposizione un litro di acqua fresca e pura e due litri e mezzo di acqua fresca ma impura. Abbiamo inoltre avviato i cantieri per la costruzione di altri centosessanta condensatori, che saranno ultimati entro il 2225 e che poi verranno distribuiti equamente alle altre assemblee. Una volta fatto ciò ne costruiremo altri anche per noi, stimiamo che entro il 2230 l’assemblea RSE, insieme a tutte le altre assemblee romane, avrà ben centoquaranta condensatori funzionanti. Solo così garantiremo la prosperità per tutte le nostre sorelle di Roma!”

Applausi scroscianti seguirono la fine del mio discorso, sentivo le gambe tremare come se mi stesse per crollare il terreno sotto ai piedi. Accennai un sorriso, ringraziai ancora le compagne e chiesi se ci fossero domande o richieste di chiarimenti. Alzò la mano Giosy, nota come “Er polemica” data la sua propensione a porre insistentemente questioni su ogni argomento trattato in assemblea.

“Scusateme tanto, però vojo dì… a noi che ce dovrebbe fregà dell’artre assemblee? Va bene che se semo sempre aiutati, e vabbè che pare che è giusto così, però insomma… se sti condensatori li costruissimo prima pe noi n’sarebbe mejo? Così intanto no’artre magari tra du anni arivamo a beve du litri d’acqua, e poi, co la pancia più piena, pensamo pure all’altre. O me sto a sbajà?”

Un applauso incerto si levò dall’assemblea, molte compagne si lanciarono sguardi tra lo sbalordito e l’incuriosito. L’intervento di Giosy era in aperta violazione con il primo articolo della CaSPAV, ma in generale andava contro tutto ciò che aveva permesso la ricostruzione di un mondo pacifico, seppur dolente. Sentii il sangue salirmi al cervello, la faccia diventare rossa e il cuore battere fortissimo contro l’ugola.

“Compagne, scusate se prendo la parola così, ma mi preme sottolineare questa cosa: a Giosy, ma che cazzo stai a dì? Ma come te viene de raggionà come quelli che c’hanno condannato a questa vita, quelli che per secoli c’hanno detto che prima venimo noi e poi l’artri, ed ecco il risultato. Davero vogliamo tornà a esse così? A ammazzasse pe n’pezzo de terra, pe n’bicchiere d’acqua zozza e calla? Ma come se fa, come se fa!”

Il mio intervento non proprio democratico venne accolto da applausi ma anche da un vociare di disapprovazione. Il brusio di sottofondo crebbe fino ad occupare ogni spazio acustico, e l’assemblea sembrava essere in procinto di venir sciolta dalle co-presidenti. A quel punto, come sempre succedeva in questi casi, alzò la mano Roberta e, improvvisamente, l’assemblea si ricompose, come per magia. Roberta faceva questo effetto, negli anni si era guadagnata la stima delle compagne di tutte le assemblee romane per le incredibili scoperte mediche che la sua mente aveva contribuito a raggiungere. La sua predisposizione per la ricerca medica si palesò fin dalle prime lezioni che frequentavamo insieme, noi compagne di banco fin dai primi anni di scuola. Ogni suo intervento, ogni sua risposta mi meravigliava: i suoi occhi vedevano aspetti del reale per me inesistenti, il suo cervello riusciva ad elaborare queste informazioni visive in un modo talmente rigoroso che la risposta risultava molto più semplice di quanto in realtà non fosse. Grazie alle sue abilità e ai suoi modi era diventata un punto di riferimento per la comunità, scientifica e non, nonostante la sua giovane età: per questo riuscì a prendere parola senza dover alzare la voce.

“Care e cari, per favore ricomponiamoci. Entrambi gli interventi sono stati fuori luogo, per contenuto e per modo. Giulia, sai bene che in quest’assemblea non si può prendere parola così e non ci si può esprimere in questo modo, per quanto tu possa aver ragione. Giosy, rinnegare i principi costituenti contenuti nella CaSPAV è un errore che non dobbiamo commettere, anzi, che non possiamo permetterci di commettere. L’unica cosa che ci ha dato la possibilità di ricostruire e preservare la società, la produzione e le nostre stesse vite sono proprio quei principi: non possiamo lasciare nessuna indietro, non possiamo ricreare le disuguaglianze che, nel mondo pre-impact, condannavano le masse a vite infelici e disumane. Ci troviamo finalmente nello stato di natura, dove ogni essere vivente vive di amore e collaborazione, e l’abbiamo raggiunto solo dopo aver costruito una collettività in grado di sopperire non solo alle necessità del corpo, ma anche a quelle dell’anima. Non possiamo, non dobbiamo tornare indietro: egoisticamente, non ci converrebbe. Lavoreremo più intensamente per abbreviare i tempi di costruzione e messa in uso dei condensatori, ma le regole di redistribuzione equa non verranno violate. Grazie per l’attenzione, sorelle”.

Gli applausi sovrastarono i grugniti di Giosy, che continuava a non essere convint3 di quanto detto ma che, come ogni volta, si arrese all’entusiasmo dell’assemblea. Il dissenso era stato ascoltato e riassorbito, e alla fine l’entusiasmo per le prospettive di un futuro più idratato tornò a travolgere l’assemblea. Le sedie vennero spostate per far spazio alle danze, con la musica che riempiva la stanza e i nostri cuori. Andai a cercare Roberta per trascinarla al centro della sala, cosa che sapevo l’avrebbe messa in imbarazzo. Ma, nonostante il suo contegno, sapevo che non era mai stata così felice.

NOTTE

Del cinema Maestoso non rimaneva altro che la struttura esterna, il soffitto era crollato diversi anni fa e il comitato di riqualificazione urbana aveva constatato come la sua ricostruzione sarebbe stata uno spreco di risorse preziose. Avevamo raccolto e riciclato le macerie, alcune delle vecchie sale erano state trasformate in circoli letterali e teatrali, altre invece avevano mantenuto la loro vecchia funzione e, quando possibile, si organizzavano serate di cinema all’aperto. Io e Roberta, anni fa, avevamo trovato un modo per accedere all’unica sala rimasta chiusa, diventata subito la nostra preferita: le poltrone erano state portate via, non era rimasto altro che il pavimento, le pareti e il cielo. Era il nostro piccolo segreto, e dopo aver eliminato lo strato di cemento e aver fatto ricrescere la vegetazione naturale, era diventato il luogo in cui, ogni sera, ci incontravamo. Stese sul piccolo prato immerso nel cemento, godevamo del silenzio avvolgente di quel luogo, specialmente dopo la movimentata assemblea di quella sera. Ogni volta che andavamo lì ci divertivamo a cercare nuove costellazioni, attività resa quasi impossibile dal cielo pieno di troppe stelle. Avevamo un piccolo quaderno, riposto in uno scaffale lì a fianco, dove prendevamo nota delle presunte nuove costellazioni cui davamo i nomi più improbabili: “Gerardo”, perché secondo Roberta somigliava al suo gatto, oppure “Il coso che usiamo in laboratorio per la ricrescita cellulare”, sempre un’idea di Roberta che a volte dimenticava i nomi della sua quotidianità. Quella sera però non giocammo, eravamo sfinite dalla giornata di lavoro e dall’assemblea.

“Allora, a te com’è andata oggi?”

“Tutto bene dai, siamo sempre più vicine alla conclusione del progetto di ricerca. Manca poco, lo sento: una volta fatto potremo arginare anche il pericolo del tumore alla pelle, sarebbe veramente una roba assurda”

“Assurdo sì, siete incredibili… ancora non capisco come facciate a pensare queste cose!”

“Beh, io non capisco come voi abbiate fatto a ripristinare i condensatori, meno male che ci hanno indirizzate bene!”

“Sì, a scuola ci hanno visto lungo… e poi, su che altro state lavorando?”

“Guarda, grazie ai risultati di laboratorio della cooperativa medica dell’assemblea Nord Ovest forse riusciremo ad elaborare la formula giusta per poter creare una crema solare in grado di schermare quasi tutte le radiazioni solari. Anche quello sarebbe un gran passo avanti, ma per realizzarlo dobbiamo aspettare le risposte delle compagne ad Afrin, temo ci vorrà ancora un po’.”

Mentre Roberta continuava a parlare, allungai la mano verso la sua arrivando a sfiorarle il palmo. Lei sussultò come al solito, ma per un motivo diverso: era la prima volta che, dopo questo tentativo, il contatto non aveva provocato un aumento delle nostre temperature. Roberta smise di parlare, mosse la mano verso la mia e poggiò tutto il suo palmo sul mio. Trattenendo il respiro, chiusi le dita e le strinsi la mano. Era sopportabile, infinitamente piacevole. Roberta riprese a parlare come se fosse nulla, ma nella sua voce rotta si sentiva l’unicità del momento, tanto che quando girai la testa per guardarle il volto mi accorsi che una lacrima stava scendendo lungo la sua guancia, verso l’orecchio. Mi avvicinai e la asciugai con un bacio, e Roberta smise definitivamente di parlare. Si girò anche lei, con gli occhi pieni di lacrime si avvicinò piano e posò le sue labbra sulle mie. Si ritrasse e scoppiò in un pianto sorridente. Le presi il viso tra le mani e appoggiai la mia fronte sulla sua.

“Aò, ho capito che è la prima volta che riuscimo a baciasse, però certo che sei na piagnona eh! Mica lo so se mo te voglio bacià ancora”

“Giulia ma proprio te parli? Guarda che me l’ha detto prima tu madre, che oggi hai pianto du volte. Che poi scusa, piagni pe i condensatori e non per me? Sono incredibilmente furiosa!”

Ridemmo entrambe, poi tirai fuori un fazzoletto di stoffa e le asciugai il volto. Ci baciammo un’altra volta, poi tornammo a guardare il cielo. 

“Robebé guarda! Ce sta na costellazione nuova!”

“Ma che stai dicendo, dai è impossibile! Dove?”

“Segui il mio dito, proprio lì sulla destra. Non l’ho mai vista prima, parono due persone che s’abbracciano.”

“Ah davero, ora la vedo. Ma che carina! Come la chiamiamo?”

Dopo qualche momento di silenzio, all’improvviso Roberta si girò dandomi le spalle dicendomi “potremmo chiamarla “RG”, ma solo se riesci ad abbracciarmi in quel modo”. Piombai nella confusione più totale, ma dopo un po’ riuscii a capire come e dove mettere le braccia: uno sotto il suo collo, l’altro attorno a lei, tra la vita e il suo braccio sinistro. Incredibilmente difficile, incredibilmente piacevole.

“Dormiamo qui?”

“Robbé come famo, domani tocca annà in cooperativa e non c’ho la bici dietro, manco te ce l’hai!”

“Dai Giulia, non ti far pregare. Un modo lo troviamo, non ce la faccio a lasciarti andare adesso”

“Va bene, hai ragione. Non pensiamoci mo, un modo lo troveremo”

Dopotutto, un modo lo avevamo sempre trovato, e avremmo sempre continuato a trovarlo: mai da sole, sempre insieme,

E, ora, abbracciandoci.

Creating awareness with retake

 Ilaria Tosti

Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?

Retake is a spontaneous citizen’s movement that began in the Trieste neighborhood, now Rome’s second municipality, in Italy.

Who are the promoters?

The experience is originated with Rebecca Jean Spitzmiller, who, tired of the ugliness in her neighborhood, decided to roll up her sleeves since the agencies she had asked for help had not moved to accommodate her requests. 

First on her own, then with friends, she decided to create a small association. Now it has settled throughout Italy and is registered with the third sector. 

In Rome, there are 86 groups, one in each neighborhood, and each group has one or more administrators.

Who are the beneficiaries? 

The beneficiaries of Retake actions are citizens who, not only can experience environments visibly more livable but also can breathe cleaner air. 

Square dedicated to the martyrs of freedom slaughtered by the Nazi-fascist oppressor, cleaned up by Centocelle volunteers (December 2023) image by the author.

How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?

These citizen groups engage by trying to bring about a change in perspective, by raising awareness of climate change issues, they mitigate the harm that dangerous behaviors of other citizens bring to the environment.

“It may seem that these actions impact little on climate change by dealing with specific areas” says the activist who told me about the project. 

What characterizes them is the intention to make people understand the impact they have on the environment around them and beyond.

By upgrading areas or creating specific teaching events for youth and children in schools, they raise social-ecological awareness.

What are the main objectives? What are the main values?

The main objective and value is really to raise awareness, as well as to adopt good practices for the environment, so that a virtuous circle is created in which citizens and institutions work together. With this, they try to get to have the cleanest and most livable cities by trying to share good practices for sustainability.

Volunteers in action cleaning the ground and putting in new plants (December 2023). Image by the author.

What is the timeline?

This initiative was started in 2009 by a small core group of people. The goal of the association is to no longer exist; it will last as long as it is needed. 

However, thanks to other parallel projects already in action, such as recycling books, recycling shoe soles, or collecting caps, the end of this project is not yet visible. 

Who are the actors involved? What is their background?

There are people of all types and age groups, with all different lives behind them. 

So many professionals who are already in the social work field, such as social workers, teachers, nurses, engineers, accountants and lawyers. 

“Me being a teacher is the one who raises awareness. Then there is Silvia, who is a seamstress, has golden hands, and is also very knowledgeable about botany. There is Bruno, who comes from engineering studies, and so he helps in the practical side. Luigi, who is a lawyer, helps us write emails to institutions. In short, everyone introduces their expertise.”

In addition, says Sonia, administrator of the Centocelle Retake group, for the past few months there has been a group of Chinese volunteers who are doing a path of integration thanks to the church they belong to. With certificates of participation that Retake can issue them, these volunteers can spend them to the legal authorities to get citizenship.

They also work with groups of young people who have committed misdemeanors and do probation with Retake, using up their community service hours instead of being under house arrest or, worse, in jail, also understanding how to weave deep relationships. 

Groups in the neighborhoods of San Paolo, Colle Oppio, and San Lorenzo conduct activities with refugees from some centers. They learn gardening, Italian and how to relate to people in the area where they live. 

Many, in doing so, also find jobs.

Immagine che contiene aria aperta, albero, cielo, persona

Descrizione generata automaticamente

Square cleaning and bench beautification (December 2023). Image by the author

What limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?

The limitation is low willpower in some neighborhoods, lack of volunteers and resignation. 

They have constant contact with the city hall, with the green councillor, but since Rome is a very large territory and there are so many problems, no matter how much cooperation there is, they can’t always address them all. 

An example reported by the volunteer I interviewed is syringes left by area drug addicts. Here the limits are resignation and difficulty in management. Without help from city hall, it is difficult to get citizens to approach such sensitive situations.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings? 

The association already engages in parallel projects while also building links with other voluntary associations. They work on promoting virtuous practices that open avenues to sustainability in various settings. 

One important parallel project that can serve as an example is “Reuse and Recycle Used Sneakers” to show how an object can have a second life.

If in good condition, the shoes will be donated, otherwise the soles will be used as a “second raw material” to build shockproof grounds for playgrounds or athletic tracks.

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?

With the goal of disappearing, they have entered into covenants of cooperation with the municipality of Rome, in which the association undertakes to find particularly critical areas and redevelop them, expanding to the whole city and then to the whole of Italy. In fact, from a small group of volunteers in a Roman neighborhood, they have grown to create extensive groups throughout Italy.

They try to make synergy with all the actors there are in a city, the municipality, the various subsidiaries such as Ama Roma S.p.A., Atac, and the underground. So far, they have been able to collaborate.

The association starts and the municipality is committed to continue.

“Since 2009 Retake has initiated an ongoing relationship of confrontation and collaboration with all administrations, in the belief that active citizenship and institutions must be mutually supportive in achieving common goals.”

In promoting the values, they have also concretely involved international communities in the area, from the European Commission to the embassies of the United States, Japan, Estonia, Canada, Australia, the Philippines and Romania.

References :

Interview with a volunteer

Retake Roma – Attiva nella cura dei beni comuni! – Sito Ufficiale. (2025, March 10). Retake Roma. https://retake.org/roma/

A Bottom-Up Initiative: Urban Gardens Monte Ciocci. Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci”

By Giorgia Grossi

In recent years, there has been increasing talk about the necessity of reconnecting with nature, even in heavily urbanized contexts. This esire is undoubtedly linked to a growing focus on a healthy lifestyle and an increasingly inseparable connection with sustainable development. Therefore, the initiative we have decided to reference in this paper concerns the emergence of urban gardens, with a specific analysis of the Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci”. 

Before delving into the activities of this association, it seems appropriate to provide a definition of an urban garden to better understand the topic. An urban garden is defined as «a green space owned by the municipality and of variable size, managed for a defined period by individual citizens, often organized into specific associations».

Contrary to what one might think, this type of initiative is rather dated: already during the industrial era, cultivated gardens could be found in urban areas (although with the increase in population and the expansion of cities, this balance was disrupted, and such initiatives became increasingly rare). Specifically, the first urban gardens emerged around the mid-1800s in Germany, while the earliest examples of urban gardens in Italy date back to the years of World War II, thanks to the “War Vegetable Gardens” campaign. However, once this challenging period passed, there was little mention of this type of initiative, at least until our present day. 

The association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” is a volunteer organization according to the third sector code and is currently an ODV, which stands for Voluntary Organization. The internal statute’s mission is focused on environmental protection and socialization. This is why they define themselves as community urban gardens: this definition encompasses the idea of creating and enhancing an abandoned place owned by the municipality, making it productive both in terms of food and social interaction. 

Figure SEQ Figura  \* ARABIC 1: Photo taken by Giorgia Grossi, sign at the entrance to the urban garden

To conduct this research, we reached out to specific individuals who granted us an interview:

  • President of the Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci”, Mr. Flavio Della Porta;
  • Vice President of the Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci”;
  • President of EU Projects Manager & Trainer, spokesperson for “Orti In Comune”” and representative of the community urban gardens forum in Rome, Mr. Andrea Messori.

Where is this initiative implemented? Who are the promoters?

The initiative takes place in North Rome in the Balduina area, precisely in the Trionfale neighborhood; specifically, we are in the Monte Mario nature reserve, under the jurisdiction of Roma Natura (it is, therefore, a park, reserve, and municipal property, as can be seen in Figure 1).

The initiative has a rather simple origin: in 2014, some citizens frequented the Monte Ciocci Park as public users, and through casual encounters and word of mouth, there emerged a desire to take care of a portion of the public park that was fenced and completely abandoned.

As a result, the citizens decided, in 2014, to establish the association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” (a name derived from the then catalyst Orchidea De Santis, involved in the Monte Ciocci Protection and Surveillance Committee for the mountain and the park, a neighborhood committee that made the opening of Monte Ciocci Park possible in 2013).

Figure SEQ Figura  \* ARABIC 2: Screenshot taken from Google Maps, to visually see where this park is located

On February 5, 2014, the Municipality of Rome entrusted the mentioned space to the Association, an initiative that remained partially unauthorized until two years ago (although still within the regulations). Finally, two years ago, the formal authorization for a 6-year + 6-year lease arrived, renewable subject to verification that everything is in compliance with the municipal regulations. Checks are carried out by the Municipality of Rome through the responsible person, Mrs. Paola Marzi, or through the Councilor for Agriculture, Environment, and Waste Cycle of Rome, the current Sabrina Alfonsi). The project approved by the Municipality of Rome aimed at the environmental redevelopment of an area in a state of total abandonment, thanks to the creation of an urban garden. Initially, the garden was something you had to earn, even going against the law. In fact, as Mr. Andrea Messori, the President of EU Projects Manager & Trainer, spokesperson for “Orti In Comune” and the forum for community urban gardens in Rome, tells us, 98% of Rome’s urban gardens originated illegally: they are occupations of degraded and often litter-filled spaces that people decide to reclaim. However, when the Municipality officially initiated the Community Urban Gardens project and assessed the green spaces that were actually free from constraints and usable, they realized there were very few. This was because over the years, citizens had autonomously moved and occupied these spaces before the official project began.

Thus, the Municipality of Rome established the Urban Gardens Office, thanks to the goodwill of Mrs. Paola Marzi, who is currently in charge. This was in response to the emerging citizens’ desire to take care of green spaces. The Municipality of Rome has two levels to regulate this type of activity: on one hand, the Regulation on Urban Gardens and Shared Gardens (with Resolution No. 38 of July 17, 2015), and on the other hand, the Green Regulation (which regulates everything related to the municipality’s greenery, including the management of green areas, concessions, types of plants that can be planted, and extends to urban gardens). These two regulations, dealing with common themes, often intersect. In addition to relying on these regulations, the Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” has its own internal regulation, drafted and modified through extraordinary meetings of its members, aligning with the aforementioned regulations.

The Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Mario” is a self-sustaining association, and therefore, a fee determined by the Board of Directors (chaired by Mr. Flavio della Porta, President of the Association) must be paid. The Board consists of 5 figures:

  • President;
  • Vice President;
  • Treasurer;
  • Secretary;
  • External Relations Officer.

How was the creation of the Urban Gardens in this area experienced by the neighborhood?

Initially, it was met with ambivalence, as told by the President of the “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” Association. However, over the years, the Association evolved, becoming more open to the external community and spreading awareness of the potential of that place through various dedicated initiatives. They also worked on making their activities better known to the community. While residents in the area with a direct view of the park initially saw them almost as invaders, over time, they accepted them, realizing that it could only be an added value. This was both in terms of area control and presence, as well as in terms of environmental protection and fire prevention. The President of the Association mentions one of the phrases they often heard from the residents of the area: ‘Rather than leaving the park abandoned… better this way.’ They realized that having a lived-in and well-maintained park in front of their homes was certainly better than having an abandoned park full of waste.

Figure 3 & 4: The photo was taken by Giorgia Grossi inside the urban garden of Monte Ciocci.

Who are the beneficiaries of the initiative?

Typically, the beneficiaries of these initiatives are non-professional cultivators, residents of the neighborhood where the initiative takes place, who are granted the green space for predefined purposes. They usually engage in the production of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, which will then be used to meet the needs of the assignees themselves.

The President of the “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” Association explains that they specifically have 17 members and about twenty volunteers:

  • Members are those who have their own plot assigned by the Association to cultivate. They can plant whatever they want in their garden (excluding broad beans to avoid favism-related issues and also excluding trees to prevent damage to neighboring plots). Their only obligation is to cultivate and continue to maintain the garden well, without using any synthetic products.
  • Volunteers are individuals who do not have their own plot to cultivate but go to the site to lend a hand with general maintenance. They are not necessarily required to provide a fixed commitment; their assistance can be occasional.

Clearly, being a Volunteer Organization (Organizzazione Di Volontariato or ODV), a fee (deliberated by the assembly) must be paid. With the increase in general costs, management costs have also risen, leading to a payment of €150 for the owners of larger plots (60 sqm) and €100 for smaller plots (30 sqm). Additionally, insurance is mandatory for both members and volunteers, covering the membership fee. With the new Internal Regulation, it has been requested that the Municipality allocate a portion of funds to the gardens so that the generated revenue can be used to cover insurance for members, with the remaining amount covering garden costs.

What is strictly prohibited by various regulations (municipal and internal) is the sale of cultivated products. The only opportunity offered to citizens participating in this initiative is, occasionally, to sell a semi-processed product to fund Association activities (an example could be selling small jars of jam or charging an entrance fee for a registered open day event).

Who are the actors involved? What is their background?

The actors involved are the beneficiaries themselves, but do they need to have a specific background? «No», says the President of the Association, continuing to state that «the beauty is precisely that those who come here bring their own experience, knowledge, and desires, creating an exchange with the other actors involved, even at the training level». However, what emerges is the passion that all the actors involved in this initiative have for nature and the environment.

As for the role of the President of the Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Mario”, Mr. Flavio della Porta explains that he decided to take a course to become a “gardeniser”. This course, lasting 40 hours, is part of a European project of cultural exchange and enhancement of the combination of two terms, “garden” and “organizer”. This training is defined as a cultural exchange because during these 40 hours, efforts are made to find diversity, challenges, and common ground among the various countries participating in this project. In these 40 hours of training, cultivation aspects are almost marginal; the focus is more on the historical aspects of gardens, organizational-management aspects, budgets, calculations in terms of light and shadow, what to plant and where, etc.

What limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter? Are there visible deficiencies or critical points? What other issues may arise from its implementation?

The President of the Volunteer Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci” describes the predominant limit as the scarcity of available land: there are many requests, but there are only about twenty plots, thus satisfying only a small portion of the demands. This criticality leads to a selective narrowing down, delving into the applicant’s offered commitment during the interview for an allotment, while also facilitating residents of the area or those closest to it. Clearly, assigning a plot to someone who lives on the other side of the city, in a large city like Rome, becomes a critical point, becoming a discriminating factor in the selection.

One of what we can consider as limits is the presence of some gardens that call themselves community gardens but are not at all: these are initiatives promoted by landowners who rent out portions of their land at very high prices (they can reach €500 or €600 per year), allowing cultivation. Practical activities may be the same as true community gardens, but since the owner is a private individual, it becomes a business in every respect. Therefore, it would be more accurate to define them differently because the concept of community (municipal) gardens follows a different line, where there is no ownership since the land belongs to the municipality, and it does not have a commercial purpose.

Figure 5: Map of shared gardens in Rome

As we can see from the map of shared gardens in Rome (figure 5), almost all municipal urban gardens are located in the southeast crescent of the city. Why? Because, understandably, the northern part, including the city center and being the financial district, lacks the necessary space to promote such initiatives. The choice, which has already been experimented with in many cities, to create urban gardens on the roofs of buildings has not yet been implemented.

How could it potentially be replicated in other contexts?

This initiative is not unique to Rome; in fact, there are over 160 urban gardens, demonstrating that it is clearly replicable in other contexts. These urban gardens are connected through a network (an association, in turn, an APS – Social Promotion Association), a very democratic and free electronic platform for the exchange of ideas, opinions, problems, etc. It also serves as a sort of trade union, so much so that on this platform, they contributed to drafting the new regulations for urban gardens. The regulations were supposed to be approved by the City Council last December but were postponed and will be approved shortly. There are urban gardens throughout Italy, each managed differently according to their regulations. What distinguishes the urban gardens of Rome is a strong desire to take care of public green spaces and find a place where they can «return to their roots», as stated by the President of the Association, Mr. Flavio della Porta, adding that this is part of their mission.

It is possible to find urban garden initiatives in other countries as well. Two interesting examples were shared by Mr. Andrea Messori, the EU projects manager & trainer:

  • In Ireland, a process opposite to ours takes place: land is offered for free, along with seeds, equipment, water, and everything needed, but citizens are not attracted to this type of initiative and prefer to spend their days on other activities.
  • In Colombia, on the other hand, the government reclaims territories from Colombian drug trafficking for the creation of urban gardens. The organizers of the Colombian initiative also came to Italy to learn specific techniques, later returning to provide feedback based on their personal experience and offering advice on particular composting techniques.

How does this initiative positively interact with the environment? How about with the climate? Does it address mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?

The presence of urban gardens in highly urbanized and anthropized areas leads to the requalification of the territory, moving towards an increasingly green concept of the city. Through these initiatives, more people spend time outside, in nature (even within an urban context), thus spending less time at home and using less energy.

«The climate change is felt, and we are the first to notice it», says the President of the Association. He explains how, by participating in urban gardens, people become aware of the different timing compared to industrial production, which is naturally slower here due to the absence of chemicals. This also involves indirect food education. Awareness of what we eat and the certainty of its quality are part of the indirect environmental contributions. Being a mere supermarket user, one fills the cart unconsciously when, in reality, it is important for the environment to respect the seasonality of products. Therefore, it would be better to eat less but in a healthier and more sustainable way. In addition, the gardens contribute to the knowledge and dissemination of products that are no longer on the market and, therefore, many users are unfamiliar with. This helps biodiversity because, by frequenting a garden and consuming its products, even occasionally, people find themselves looking for items that are often not found in supermarkets (often these are products eliminated because they are not attractive and productive enough, hence not meeting the demands of the large market). Consequently, individuals need to visit markets or specific bio producers.

Another aspect not to be underestimated is that initiatives related to urban gardens contribute to withdrawing land from cementation (eliminating problems of water absorption by the soil). Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to obtain the concession of those territories with high profit potential. Mr. Flavio della Porta tells us about his attempts to obtain the concession of land adjacent to the garden where a historic Rai (Italian Broadcasting Corporation) antenna stood, which was decommissioned last year. The Association’s request and its President’s intention to occupy that land aimed to satisfy the numerous requests from those who want to participate in the Urban Gardens initiative. However, they did not manage to obtain the concession, which was instead assigned to a construction company that is proceeding with the creation of new residential buildings.

An initiative present in various community urban gardens, including the one examined in this paper, is the presence of a compost bin (a container designed to collect organic waste). The Association, like others, operates in terms of material reuse and recycling of urban waste: green waste is directed into the compost bin to produce compost through various techniques, contributing to reducing landfill disposal and often using recycled materials.

Figure 6: Photo was taken by Giorgia Grossi 

The Volunteer Association in question also uses water recycling systems: they have a 5,000-liter tank inside a manhole, and through the use of a pump, the wastewater reaches their garden, using non-potable water for irrigation and thus being at zero environmental impact (also thanks to the lack of electricity and energy within the park).

Are there already visible effects?

Mr. Andrea Messori, the EU Projects Manager & Trainer, spokesperson for “Orti In Comune”, and the forum of community urban gardens in Rome, tells us how in England, the insurance market asks those who apply for health and/or life insurance if they are frequent visitors to urban gardens. If they receive a positive response, they will have a lower rate to pay. This is because they have evidently calculated the positive effects, both in terms of staying healthier and in the fight against isolation (less depression, fewer medications, etc.).

A very important project often present in urban gardens is beehives:

«beehives s. f. [uncertain origin] A box or other structure prepared by humans for the breeding of bees […]»

In many cases, urban gardens construct beehives using natural and local materials, where bees thrive due to the ample biodiversity present. 

In a specific case in Rome, recounted by Mr. Andrea Messori, the Prefecture decided to experiment with air quality using insects, reaching an agreement with some urban gardens that already had beehives. By collecting their honey and conducting analyses, it was found that their honey contained more than 17 essences simultaneously, which was considered a rarity. This is because, in other places, bees do not find a variety of plants on which to land, as is the case in urban gardens.

Researchers decided to create true “ecological corridors for insects”: using the network of urban gardens, they sought those with exposed balconies that connected two gardens so that insects could follow the path and join other bee families, giving biodiversity the opportunity to mix, creating a more long-lived and resilient species.

Mr. Andrea Messori, President of EU projects manager & trainer, spokesperson for Orti In Comune and forum of community urban gardens in Rome, states that with the European project they are submitting, Gardeniser Community, a research project involving Roma Tre University with Prof. De Muro, who specializes in social economy, they are addressing the themes we are discussing. They have developed the concept of Impact Indices of community urban gardens (based on the model of the Community-Index by Prof. Stefano Zamagni of the University of Bologna): what they want to do is connect data so that they can evaluate the impact as an internal governance tool (i.e., the system tells me where I have reached based on my goals, adding what to focus on this year). However, regarding environmental impact, it is difficult to make statistics on a macro level:  «unfortunately, for the climate footprint, it is enough that for 20 days there is more traffic on Via Cristoforo Colombo than the compensatory activity carried out by the garden is canceled». 

A very interesting example, also provided by Mr. Andrea Messori during the interview, concerns the Orti Urbani Garbatella, which originated as an act of disobedience by the citizens of the area. Once the Region’s building was constructed, various debris remained, and the Municipality was willing to give away that area for free to someone who would take care of cleaning it up; a private company wanted to build a supermarket there, and when the citizens, eager to have a park, learned about it, they started cleaning the area. One day, they arrived with 10 trucks of soil donated by friends and poured it over the cement, raising the ground by 40 cm (even today, the Orti Urbani Garbatella cultivate on a 40 cm layer of soil, which is why the trees are very low, as the roots cannot go deep and are blocked).

Following the creation of this urban garden, they decided to create a mound of soil, raising the ground by about a meter and a half: after various surveys, it was noted that after the construction of this mound, pollution in that area was lower (reducing pollution by 30%).

Does this initiative foster broader changes (legislation, institutional agreements, long-term sustainability, or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which ones?

Within an urban garden, there are many environmental issues, states the President of the Association “Orchi Urbani Monte Ciocci”. They may not provide a quantifiable and calculable contribution at the environmental level, but they can certainly offer an important contribution in terms of environmental education through initiatives such as educational gardens, events, etc. The “Orchi Urbani” Association, for example, participates in the “Roma cura Roma” project, an initiative dedicated to cleaning sections of the park. These initiatives have multiple positive aspects, ranging from the goal of combating social exclusion to wanting to do something concrete for climate change. In addition, these are important initiatives for preserving areas from degradation, abandonment, and irregularities while allowing citizens to fully experience and reclaim their territory.

These initiatives also aim to create a connection with our agricultural origins by cultivating typical local products and often ancient products that are no longer even found in the market.

What are the main goals? What are the core values?

The goals, as we have seen, aim at both the redevelopment of abandoned green areas and at socialization, environmental and food education, as well as the dissemination of knowledge. As we have seen throughout this paper and as Andrea Messori states, «the urban garden is not only meant to cultivate things but also to cultivate people».

REFERENCES:

https://gardeniser.eu/it , this document was consulted on 19.01.2024.

https://gardeniser.eu/it/profilo-gardeniser , this document was consulted on 19.01.2024.

https://orti-urbani-monte-ciocci.business.site/ , this document was consulted on 08.01.2024.

https://urbact.eu/networks/rurban , this document was consulted on 20.01.2024.

https://www.biorfarm.com/orti-urbani/  , this document was consulted on 08.01.2024.

https://www.centroproxima.it/it , this document was consulted on 19.01.2024.

https://www.comune.roma.it/web/it/sabrina-alfonsi.page , this document was consulted on  10.01.2024.

https://www.comune.roma.it/web/it/scheda-servizi.page?contentId=INF60787&pagina=2 , this document was consulted on 10.01.2024.

https://www.ortidipace.org/mappa-degli-orti-condivisi-di-roma , this document was consulted on 10.01.2024.

https://www.replaynet.eu/it , this document was consulted on 19.01.2024. 

https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/arnia/ , this document was consulted on 19.01.2024.

The Ex-SNIA in Rome: a more-than-human transformation of a former chemical plant

By Cecilia Pasini

The initiative is the re-appropriation of a former industrial chemical plant that produced viscose, the ex CISA/SNIA Viscosa, in Rome. The abandoned plant has been partly occupied by activists and citizens and re-used, through a re-signification and re-territorialization (Maggioli and Tabusi, 2016) of the former plant in ruins and the creation of a new park, spaces for the community, and an archive of the former workers.


Photo of Lago Bullicante and abandoned ruins of the shopping centre project.

Images by Cecilia Pasini

Where is this grassroots initiative? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?

The ex-Snia is located in Rome, the Italian capital city, in the neighbourhood of PignetoPrenestino and bordered by via Prenestina and via di Portonaccio. It is now called Parco delle Energie (Energy Park) because it became a public park as a result of the grassroots initiative. The area covers a total of 14 hectares, 6.5 of which are public. In the park stands the Park House and the Quadrato, a skate park where activities, festivals and sports tournaments are organized. The Park House, which in the past was one of the two structures used as a dormitory for factory workers, is a public space managed by the Forum Territoriale Permanente del Parco delle Energie (Permanent Territorial Forum of the Energy Park, from now on “Forum”) in agreement with the City Hall, (AAVV, 2023). The Forum is a civic body built up over the years during the activists’ struggles to protect and manage the area. 

The Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa (Maria Baccante Territorial Documentation Centre – Historical archive Viscose) is hosted in the Park House and is dedicated to a former worker and partisan in the Italian Resistance. The archive collects documents abandoned by the former Snia Viscosa direction after the closure of the firm. It is managed through an assembly that meets weekly, made by activists and inhabitants of the neighbourhood with a special biographic relationship to the plant, some of them have professional skills in the conservation of archives. The archive has an institutional recognition since 2012, when the Regional Directorate for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Lazio recognised its value. 

Inside the park, there is a natural lake, which leaked from the underground water table during work on the construction of a shopping centre in the early 1990s. The emergence of the lake and the consequent arrival of several people and nonhuman species, especially birds, has been an important turning point in the initiative. In a sense, the initiative is a form of creation of multispecies relationships based on the protection of commons, in which a coalition between human and nonhuman actors is made possible with relevant positive consequences.

Everyone in the neighbourhood and abroad can benefit from the initiative. Thanks to the presence of the park, the community centre and the archive Maria Baccante, the place is visited by relatives of former workers who want to reconstruct their family history as well as researchers, students, industrial history enthusiasts, and even by the curious who want to learn more about the city.

How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?

The initiative is against soil exploitation by economic powers, the big firms and the political elites. It tries to defend the area as a common good, preserve the park, and have more places where the community can meet. Activists act to safeguard and increase biodiversity, raise among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood awareness of the importance of green areas, the development of a civic sense, and of awareness of collective goods. The initiative also tries to do something out of the waste and ruins of the deindustrialization process, with a practice that overcomes the sense of loss (Elliott, 2018). It opposes the ruination and waste of a post-industrial area, claiming the need of commoning and creating new forms of relationships (Armiero, 2021). It is also an opposition to the abandonment of the stories of the neighbourhood. The polluting plant (the industrial complex used highly toxic chemicals, such as carbon disulphide, to create rayon or artificial silk) has created a toxic and noxious heritage (Feltrin, Mah, and Brown, 2022) that has condemned the neighbourhood and its inhabitants to become a wasted community, out of sight for the most. The initiative permits to overturning this perspective by developing alternative visions for the community and its territory. 

Additionally, the initiative has been made possible thanks to the emergence of human-nonhuman alliances, and the sudden and bulky entry of the urban wilderness in the area, starting with the birth of the Bullicante lake.

What are the main objectives? What are the main values? 

The main objectives concern the fight against capitalist power, privatization, resistance to overbuilding and the cementation of natural green areas. The activists want to oppose the new capitalist projects that since the Nineties have aimed to make the area at the service of private interests, asking the municipality for the expropriation of that part of the ex-Snia, which is still privately owned. They consider the park a common good that needs to be owned and used by the community without capitalist exploitation or further privatization. In the words of one of the activists: “We want to be the largest re-naturalised post-industrial settlement in Rome”. The main values concern the protection of urban nature, the importance of creating commons to fight against speculation, and the valorisation of the workers’ stories in an area with a polluted and noxious recent past.

What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?

The initiative’s history is intertwined with the history of the industrial plant and comes from afar. In 1922 the plant was located by the Società Generale Italiana della Viscosa (Italian General Society of Viscose) and started its activity in 1923. The choice of the location is influenced, among other reasons, by the massive presence of water in the area. In 1944 an Allied bombing raid hit the factory, severely damaging it. Despite  this episode, the factory resumed operations after the Second World War, but began a considerable decline that led to the loss of labour, from over 1,600 workers in 1949 to only around 120 in 1953. The decline was accompanied by demonstrations: in 1949 there was a 40-day occupation of the factory asking to improve working conditions and wages. The factory closed in 1954. In 1969 the land became part of the Snia Viscosa estate, and by 1982 it was owned by the Società Immobiliare Snia s.r.l.

In 1990 the builder Antonio Pulcini, through the company Ponente 1978, purchased the warehouses and surrounding area (AAVV, 2023). In 1992, he started the construction of a shopping mall. During the excavation for the underground parking, the excavators eroded the Acqua Bullicante aquifer. The building site filled up with water and attempts to pump it away through the sewer system failed. On the contrary, the sewer burst   and the water leaked out flooding the entire area of the nearby Largo Preneste. Then the work finally stopped (Archivio Maria Baccante, 2018). In the following years, the water level stabilised and formed a lake. Its extension is about 10,000 square meters and its depth is about 9 meters, with clean and swimmable waters. On 22 May 1992, a regional decree ordered the cancellation of the building permit for Pulcini’s project.

In 1994 the Rome City Council approved the project to turn part of the Snia Viscosa area into a public green area and started the expropriation procedure. In 1995 the former Snia is listed as an area of archaeological interest. The Snia factory is also preserved as industrial archaeology. The same year activists occupied the former warehouses to guard the park that was to be created. On this occasion, the Occupied Social Centre CSOA ex Snia opens (AAVV, 2023). 

In the abandoned offices of the former factory, numerous folders with workers’ and employees’ files, drawings, plans, and blueprints of the technical office, and workers’ medical records were found, collected, and safeguarded. In 2012, the Archival Superintendency of Lazio recognised the cultural interest of the archive (Archivio Maria Baccante, 2018). Now these documents, recognised as heritage, are kept in the Park House in the Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa, constituted in 2015.

                 Photo of The Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante. Workers’ documents.

Images by Cecilia Pasini

The park opened in 1997 and other areas were expropriated and made public in 2000. In 2007 the Energy Park Committee was created. This is committed to the protection of the existing park and the realisation of a broader park system. The Park Committee will later become part of the Forum. In 2011 the House of the Park and the Forum were born, the municipal administration, the Municipality of Rome VI, various associations, committees, and citizens of the neighbourhood participated in the meetings. In 2011 the WWF Pigneto Prenestino Committee is born. In 2014 a thousand people participating in a demonstration obtained the opening of the gate of the former factory and reached the lake and the public green area. The Rome City Council approved a motion tabled by an ecologist political group, which partly incorporated the demands made by the Forum for the protection of the lake, the completion of the expropriation, and the opening to the public of the area around the lake. In the same period, the Forum submitted a request for protection of the former Snia industrial complex. 

In 2018 the activists presented an appeal to the President of the Lazio Region to establish the Natural Monument of the former Snia Lake and in 2019 they asked to enlarge the Natural Monument area. In 2020 the President of the Region established the “Lago ex Snia- Viscosa” Natural Monument and placed it under environmental protection. One part of the ex-Snia is still owned by the Ponente 1978 company which started a project in 2022 with the official aim of “conservative restoration and partial restructuring” (AAVV, 2023). According to the Forum and to the local WWF, the real aim is to establish in the area a logistics hub. In the same year, the Forum asks again to the local and regional authorities to enlarge the perimeter of the ex Snia – Viscosa Lake Natural Monument.

Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?

The main problem of the initiative seems to be the big dimension of the ex-Snia area that is considered by the municipality and by the privates as a field for private investments and economic exploitation. Nowadays different parts of the area have different statuses and different forms of recognition and protection. Even if the institutions, in particular the Lazio Region, have been active in the protection of the lake, some other decisions seem to stretch out towards interests of privatization. Additionally, the strategy of the promoters of the initiative asking for preservation of the natural and archival heritage has been successful, but at the same time makes the possible future of the initiative strictly connected to the political decisions of the institutional actors.

Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?

The main problem is about the private interests that threaten the stability of the initiative. The majority of the ex-Snia has been expropriated by the municipality, but a part is still privately owned by the Ponente 1978 company that is trying to establish a new economic activity. 

Another threat is the condition of the buildings where the Snia had its production, which has been polluted for so many years that would need an evaluation of the ecological condition from a technical point of view.

How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?

The main strength of the initiative is the capability to build relationships inside and outside the neighbourhood. The initiative has been at the core of various academic papers and the activists are available to spread and communicate the initiative with people interested. Additionally, the aims of the initiatives the activists carried out are close to the neighbourhood needs and identity, in particular the closeness between the history of the plant and the history of families and individuals living in Prenestino.

The special occurrence of the human-nonhuman coalition is something particularly linked to the physical characteristics of the area that are difficult to reproduce in other contexts. Anyway, the idea to re-signify a former industrial area, with the appropriation of space and a memory, is something possible for the majority of the abandoned ruins of the industrial era. It can be made also by valorising and protecting the urban wilderness as well as in the ex-Snia.

Another strength of the initiative concerns the multiform knowledge and the different skills that the activists mobilise, even the more technical and scientific ones (Gissara, 2018). Everybody brings their own capabilities and previous experiences to contribute to the common good.

Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long-term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? 

The initiative has been important in the political decision made by the Region since the Nineties to expropriate  the ex-Snia area in order to create a Natural Monument, and for the creation in 2015 of the Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante – Archivio storico Viscosa within the Park House. This implies that the initiative has been successful in relating with the political elites, negotiating some positive political outputs, while retaining at the same time its antagonistic and alternative role with respect to institutional politics. The process has been a real long-term initiative that is nowadays incorporated into the political, social and economic life of the neighbourhood, and the assembly is still working, asking for the expropriation of the last privately owned part of the former industrial plant. The initiative is widely recognized within Rome, and more broadly in Italy, as a successful initiative to oppose the privatisation and speculation on the industrial heritage, as well as to defend the preservation of nature and green urban spaces.

References

AA.VV. (2023) Il Lago Bullicante Ex-Snia “Lago per Tuttə – Cemento per Nessunə”. Retrieved from https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/38259072ca4d4b2490fa70a3460abe68 [last accessed 10 July 2023].

Armiero, M. (2021). L’era degli scarti. Cronache dal Wasteocene, la discarica globale. Torino: Einaudi.

Centro Documentazione Territoriale Maria Baccante (2013). La fabbrica. Retrieved from https://www.archivioviscosa.org/la-fabbrica/ [last accessed 10 July 2023].

Centro documentazione territoriale Maria Baccante (2018). L’acqua e la carta: il ritrovamento dell’archivio storico Viscosa. Zapruder, 47, 124-127.

Elliott, R. (2018). The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss. European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes De Sociologie, 59(3), 301-337.

Feltrin L., Mah A. and Brown D. (2022). Noxious deindustrialization: Experiences of precarity and pollution in Scotland’s petrochemical capital. Politics and Space, 40(4), 950-969.

Gissara, M. (2018). Intorno al lago. La riappropriazione popolare dell’area dell’ex Snia Viscosa a Roma. Tracce Urbane. Rivista Italiana Transdisciplinare Di Studi Urbani, 2(4), 218-236.

Maggioli M. and Tabusi M. (2016).  Energie sociali e lotta per i luoghi. Il ‘Lago naturale’ nella zona dell’ex CISA/Snia Viscosa a Roma. Rivista Geografica Italiana, 123(3), 365-382.

2200 Rome by Martina

Cordella Martina

The sound of water draining from the air conditioner is getting louder and louder. Today is one of the days when the hellish heat makes the air devoid of oxygen. The thermometer outside reads 54 degrees. The sun’s rays have become so strong that they burn your skin even early in the morning. Putting on sunscreen is no longer enough to protect your skin: severe sunburns are the order of the day, and almost the entire population has developed polymorphous solar dermatitis. The only way to get from one point to another in the city during the summer is to travel through underground tunnels that have been dug specifically to cope with heat waves. The “Rome-Underground” project was developed as part of the plan to adapt to the climate crisis: health problems and deaths due to excessive heat had increased considerably, for which the municipality had to find a solution that resulted in a network of underground roads. Initially, it was planned to widen the subway lines, but citizens protested that it would be too dangerous to pass by the trains and, moreover, they would be too narrow to allow transit for all the people moving around. So, they decided to build a network of exclusively pedestrian-only underground passageways, but still connected to public transportation stops. They were the saving grace for all those who do jobs that cannot be done in smart work, blue collar workers and shopkeepers in particular. 

Life takes place mainly either underground or at night. During the day the streets, at least the secondary ones, of Rome are deserted, not only because not a single person can be seen walking: green areas are extremely rare, rather dry, and often incidents flare up due to drought. Automatic sprinklers are in operation during all daylight hours and manage to mitigate the problem, but this applies only to the more central areas. In the suburbs, most parks are becoming infertile sand pools. This has happened because they have become agglomerations of heat islands: old metal structures and cars still persist in the poorest parts of the city, almost all of which have been turned into dumps of artifacts from Old Rome, the pre-climate collapse one. But adaptation strategies have been varied, and many areas of the city have been preserved and made environmentally sustainable. Main streets and ancient ruins have been shielded by a few clear glass domes and climate-controlled to preserve historic monuments from extreme events. 

This is how surface sections can be walked during the scorching summer. My favorite route is the one that starts from Piazza Venezia and runs all the way down Via Dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum. Keeping to the left, there is a gate that marks the entrance to Colle Oppio, also maintained under a dome. It is one of the few green areas in Rome that has remained as such and virtually unchanged. The entrance to the park is marked by an asphalt slope flanked on both sides by strips of green lawn. At the end of it, on the left, is a fountain that, put back into operation after a long time, has become home to some freshwater aquatic species now extinct in the wild. It is part of the Urban Biodiversity Conservation project, which sees the collaboration of the fields of biology and cultural heritage. In this way, ecological education has been made an everyday subject and within reach of everyone. At the same time, however, the Ministry of Culture makes sure that important historical architectural elements are not damaged.

Going back to my air conditioner, it has been on long enough to cool the house and fill the second canister. I can turn it off and prepare a new canister for drainage. The already full canisters I put outside the house. They will be picked up to take them to the re-mineralization center, so the water that will be used for irrigation will be recycled. Nothing should be wasted, least of all such a precious commodity as water. I open the refrigerator with the aim of preparing a fresh salad and a spinach for lunch, but I realize that I do not have all the necessary ingredients. I go downstairs again, this time to reach the condominium greenhouse. I pick up an avocado, a couple of cucumbers, and some cherry tomatoes to compose my salad. For my spinach spinner I choose instead an apple, a carrot, an orange, and some fennel to make it a bit cooler. The greenhouse is composed on the model of agroforestry: fruit trees coexist with a good variety of crops. The former are permanent inhabitants of the greenhouses, planted during the reconstruction of the building, while planting is decided every four months during a condominium meeting so as to ensure some variability in diet and crop. To date, the houses are all built in this way, as if they were small urban ecosystems: each building has its own shared greenhouse that all condominiums must take care of, cooperating with artificial pollinating insects. The facades are covered with ivy and climbing plants that can withstand severe temperature changes, especially the extreme heat typical of Roman summers. In this way the city manages to keep the air breathable. This is a model of Eco-Building designed for climate adaptation and which, together with implemented public mobility powered by solar electricity, keeps pollution under control. Private cars are rare to see around: they have made them electric yes, but also hyper-expensive so as to discourage their purchase and prevent the whole city from falling victim to heat islands as happened to the suburbs.

I finish my salad and my spinner and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I take in enough vitamins and minerals – the average amount given in the government’s heat wave guidelines – to make it out of my apartment. I slip on my sunscreen poncho, dark glasses and head to the nearest underpass. I can feel the heat of the asphalt through my shoes. Fortunately, it takes me a few steps to take shelter in the tunnel underground. I slip off my poncho and put it in my backpack. Underground Rome is teeming with people strolling through the wide, brightly lit corridors. In some places, looking up, you can see shielded skylights that allow you to see the sky, the real one, not the reproduction projected on the ceiling of the underpasses to make them more acceptable and less claustrophobic. As proof that life in summer has moved underground, they have opened some stores and clubs: so people can sip cold coffee under the city. My destination today, however, is no coffee shop. I have an appointment with my friend Iris to see the ancient ruins of Ostia Antica. They reopened the archaeological site a few weeks ago, after years of renovation and adaptation to the new climate regime. They say it is a sight never seen before, that it is an almost fairy-tale experience. We could not miss this event. 

I have an appointment with Iris at the Eur pond. Before the collapse it was an artificial pool where a few mallards and mallards lived. They used to give rowing lessons there. After it evaporated, it was included in the Aquatic Recovery and Conservation Project, and now, enclosed under a glass bubble, it is a fully developed ecosystem: it is a reproduction of an asiaco lake, with colorful mandarin ducks, carp, tuna and salmon jumping out of the water and huge goldfish swimming just below the surface of the water, decorated with fallen cherry blossoms.

“Marguerite look!” the voice of Iris comes ringing from behind me. She rests a hand on my back and brings my attention to the tree where I was resting. A nightingale from Japan, its feathers fading from yellow to bright red, rests on a small branch and, shaking it slightly, drops several flowers. The petals rain down over our heads like pinkish snowflakes, light and delicate. For a moment we forget about the terrible summer heat waves gripping the city. For a few minutes we forget that we live in Rome. Together we head for the subway. A few stops and we will have arrived at our destination. 

The carriage is half-empty and the air conditioning makes a sharp contrast with the temperature outside. Before we get off we put on our sunglasses and cape to protect us from the still very strong sun at four in the afternoon. Not exactly the best time to take a field trip, but the visit will last a few hours as the site is very large. We have to walk part of the way to the entrance and wait for the visit to begin. 

As I mentioned earlier, the archaeological site of Ostia Antica has recently reopened to the public. This is because a hundred years ago it was the victim of a terrible flood. The Lido of Ostia no longer exists: it has been submerged for a hundred years now, due to rising sea levels caused by the melting of perennial ice. From year to year the tide rose higher and higher, until it reached its present level and submerged even the ancient ruins of Ostia Antica. It took years to restore it and proceed with its underwater restoration. It could have been lost forever, but instead the opportunity was taken to once again make it a tourist destination, this time through a tour conducted via underwater shuttles. Once again, culture and biology collaborate to create a unique cognitive and educational experience: one does not only move among the underwater ruins, but also together with various sea creatures.

We get in line to get on the shuttle. It is quite small, only a few people fit on it at a time. Just as well, we enjoy the visit more. Once we get in, we can finally take off our sun-protection cloaks and put them in our bags. I was expecting to be able to see outside only through relatively small portholes, but instead the right side of the small submarine is totally made of clear glass, so clean that it seems almost not to be there. For the descent, we are made to take our seats, sort of like they do on airplanes. Two beeps and a voice from the loudspeaker reads, “Kind passengers and passengers are asked and requested to take their seats for the dive. You will be notified and warned once the procedure is complete. Now please enjoy your descent.” Two more beeps and the vehicle begins to move downward. With our eyes fixed on the glass, we see the water slowly rise and embrace the vehicle. It is a peculiar sight, a new experience but at the same time a sense of anguish assails me. Iris must have noticed because she turns to me and asks, “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I reply. “Yes, everything is fine. It’s just that I was thinking how traumatic it must be to experience the flood. Until the last century it was an area of Rome like any other. I mean, it was emerged, inhabited. So many people saw their homes as they were swallowed up by the sea. It must have been terrible.”

“I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I did. Now that you’ve pointed it out, a sense of uneasiness has come over me.”

“Yeah, forgive me. That was not my intention.”

“Let’s not think about it now. What happened cannot be changed now. Let’s enjoy what is good that has been left to us.”

Again the two beeps bring your attention back to the speaker: “The descent is over. In the drawer below your seats you will find audio guides. You may get up from your seats and approach the glass. We hope that what you will see will leave you speechless. Enjoy the ride.”

We put on our headphones and approach the huge window overlooking the sea floor. Seeing ancient Roman ruins is truly a unique sight. That melancholy feeling that grips you when you think of the civilizations that lived before us becomes even more pronounced. At the same time, however, it feels like being in another dimension. I see a school of mosaic fish moving fast among the reddish earthen niches, if they stop swimming they almost blend in. I turn on the guidebook and select the item “Mosaic Fish and Ancient Roman Houses.” “The Mosaic Fish, also known as Gurami perla, was a species bred for sale in aquariums. Typically tropical, with rising temperatures it first reached the Mediterranean and then moved here to the Tyrrhenian Sea, becoming endemic. In the submarine renovation of the ancient city of Ancient Ostia, some aquatic plants such as Hydrocotyle leucocephala and Tiger lotus, favored as hiding places by the mosaic fish, were included in some of the old Roman insulae.” I see them for the last time as they hide in a burrow. 

My attention is caught by the remains of an old temple slightly in the distance, from which I see a white cloud rising. Thanks to the guide, I discover that it is the Capitolium, the main temple of the ancient city dedicated to the three Roman gods Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. The white cloud, however, was a school of jellyfish whose bloom is difficult to keep track of. This is because it is a highly invasive species attracted by the increasingly warm waters of our sea. Algae and corals of all kinds, finally, had colonized every available column, making the underwater ways even more unique.

After about three and a half hours the visit is over and we proceed to the ascent. Putting our capes back on to protect us from the still bright and high sun at eight o’clock in the evening, we walk on the footbridge back to the mainland. Iris and I say goodbye with a promise to see each other again as soon as this scorching summer is over.

As I head toward the subway to go home I see smoke in the distance. It is strange to see it around here. Nothing but the Pine Grove could catch fire, but this one is protected in the domes. I get on the subway to go home. Part of the route passes right by there, so I decide to keep my eyes out the window to try to catch a glimpse of something. And that is exactly what happens. The glass of the dome must have been badly damaged and the fiery sun rays have reached the vegetation, starting the burning process. I can’t see anything else in the few seconds the train passes by there, the only thing I can do is hope they can contain the damage. The Pine Forest is the lung of the city, the only entirely green spot left and made pristine. Access to the reserve has been banned precisely to prevent pollution and damage to the only place that can provide oxygen in a Rome victimized by heat and drought.

I get home in time for the special edition of the news: “Breaking news: a fire has broken out in the Castel Fusano pine forest. According to initial investigations, the origin of the flames is said to be attributed to sunlight that penetrated due to a fracture in the protective dome. It is not yet known how the glass could have shattered. Meanwhile, firefighters are keeping the flames at bay, and specialists are on their way to the scene to conduct analysis and investigation. More updates will be given in tomorrow morning’s edition.” Images of the reserve fire victim scroll across the screen at the conclusion of the report.

Very strange, this is shatterproof glass designed to withstand any kind of impact. Who knows what must have happened to cause it to crack. Strong an act of arson? But it would not have gone unnoticed, there are monitoring cameras everywhere in the area. Whatever the cause, I will find out tomorrow morning, but this uncertainty does not make me feel comfortable. This is one of the most important areas of Rome, much more than the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and all the monuments that have characterized the city for centuries. The Pineta is an extremely valuable asset, the only urban ecosystem that has remained intact over the past two hundred years. Over time it has become a source of pride and to lose it would be a blow to all Romans. I turn off the TV. Seeing those images makes me anxious. I try to divert my attention from this dramatic event by thinking about dinner, but I don’t have much appetite, so I finish the fresh vegetables left over from lunch and get ready for bed. I put the timer on the air conditioner by selecting the anti-moisture mode. Living in a small studio apartment, it doesn’t take long to cool the room. I turn off the lights, slip into bed and wait for

tomorrow.

The sun’s rays filter through the shutters and come directly to my face. Usually I like to wake up with their caresses and thanks to the natural light, with thoughts coming softly into my mind. This morning, however, my attention immediately focuses on the matter left unresolved the night before. I need to know what has happened at the Pine Grove, I need to know how she is doing. I turn on the television still with my pajamas on. The morning edition reassures all citizens that the fire has been tamed and extinguished overnight. There was damage, but nothing irrecoverable. This news already gives me relief, a feeling that is not likely to last. They found out how the dome was shattered: “From the analyses conducted during the night, it was found that the cause of the glass breakage was attributed to the heat of the sun’s rays. Accomplice to the temperature change inside the dome, pointing fixedly at the glass heated it so much that it exploded. Experts are already working to repair the damage and think of a solution that can cope with the increasing heat. One thing is certain: temperatures are rising again. We can only hope that the autumn equinox will arrive soon. We advise you to stay out of your homes for the remaining summer days.”

I remain interjected. I thought we were able to tame the climate situation by now. The adaptation policies that have been implemented so far have always worked. News like this will send the population into a panic, and if the government does not find a solution soon, Rome will fall into silent chaos. As happened last time: unable to stay on the streets for too long because of the high temperatures, the protests took the form of a total strike. No one leaves the house, no one goes to the workplace, and those doing smart work do not turn on their PCs. The city comes to a total standstill. Perhaps the shutdown is already developing. But out of fear. I raise the blinds and see all the lights in the houses turned on. No one seems to have left the house, much less will I. I put my head back inside the apartment. I leave the TV on waiting for directions from the municipality, instructions that were not long in coming. All the channels are colonized by the mayor’s face repeating the following words, “To all citizens and female citizens. Given the reasons that caused the rupture of the protective dome of the Pine Forest, an artificial rain will be induced in the coming hours with the aim of rebalancing the temperatures. This is an experimental technology, but given what we risk we have no choice. The underpasses will be closed and armored to prevent seepage and flooding. We strongly recommend that you do not leave your homes. We promise that by tomorrow everything will be back to normal.”

Normality. I shudder to think that temperatures hovering between 50 and 61 degrees are normal, but in a way they are.

The report continues, “By now, the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles have been changed, and the old balances can no longer be recovered. What we can do, and are doing, is to adapt to the new climate conditions that arise, relying on climate technology developed by our researchers. It is the only path we can take.” The same message is repeated from emergency speakers placed in the streets. I hear it through the window: I look out and see the few people in the streets hurrying back to their homes. Now Rome is silent, a scorching asphalt desert.

I see a few drops of water settling on the road. The operation must have started. The rain is becoming more and more present, falling straight down to the ground until it bursts into a thunderstorm without lightning or thunder, controlled. usually the sound of falling drops relaxes me, but this is different: it’s as if someone has turned on a giant sprinkler all over Rome at noon. The sun, in fact, is still high in a cloudless sky. It is a strange sight. 

After a couple of hours my eye falls on the thermometer marking the outside temperature: it’s 45 degrees. It’s working. The rain first starts getting lighter and then stops. They can’t keep it on for too many hours, otherwise they risk triggering an extreme weather event and Rome would end up like Ostia Antica: it would end up submerged. It is about 6 p.m. when the loudspeakers go off again: “We are pleased to inform you that the operation has been successfully completed. The domes have returned to a temperature far from the breaking point. Localized rains in the areas most at risk will be activated in the coming days. Authorities are in the process of reopening the underground passages. You will soon be able to go out into the streets again. Rome is safe. You are safe.”

Parco Ort9 Sergio Albani Roma – urban garden and public park in Rome

Thais Palermo Buti

Introduction

Ort9 is an urban garden and public park located in Casal Brunori, a residential neighborhood in the outskirts of Rome. Before being turned into a park, the space was used as a landfill. This text tells the process that the local actors (NGO and neighborhood committee) engaged to recover a neglected urban public space and to give it back to the community.

Parco Ort9: place, characteristics, and actors involved

The initiative is implemented in the residential neighborhood Casal Brunori, in the outskirts of Rome, Italy1. Its institutional promoters are the NGO Vivere In… and the Neighborhood Committee.

The NGO was born in 2006, starting from the initiative of a group of friends who decided to commit themselves to enhance the neighborhood. As reported in a 2018 news story on Repubblica website: “From the cleaning of the green areas to the parties organized to fill the absence of moments of socialization, over the years they have created initiatives to mend the social fabric. In the neighborhood there is a lack of meeting places and while the elderly suffer from the lack of services, families move with their car to other areas of the city, in search of spaces for free time.

Sergio Albani, founding member of the association, had been looking hopefully at one of the large green fields of Casal Brunori, reduced to a landfill, since 2006: among the tall grass there were refrigerators, televisions, even safes abandoned after the thefts. Albani dreamed that instead of decay there were gardens and the Ort9 park is dedicated to him, who disappeared before seeing the idea of him become reality” (De Ghantuz, 2018).

1 The district extends immediately outside the Grande Raccordo Anulare to the south and is between via Pontina and via Cristoforo Colombo. The total inhabitants are 4,361 and the commercial activities around 50.

The process for the creation of the urban gardens and the public park was slow and gradual. Formally, it began with the sending by Vivere In to the Municipality of Rome, in 2005, of a draft of an architectural project, proposing the creation of the gardens in the space then occupied by the landfill. But it was only in 2015 that the Municipality, accepting a proposal sent by the Council of Culture of the 9th district of Rome, agreed to participate in the Sidig-med European project, which made it possible to obtain the necessary funds for the start of the works in the area, 12,000 square meters. Vivere In… NGO was the operational promoter of the project, and this association was entrusted with the management of the Ort9-Sergio Albani Park in February 2017.

Currently, Ort9 is a public park with 107 individual urban garden plots, in addition to shared plots. The park has an automated irrigation system through driplines, shared mechanical and manual tools, as well as public restrooms, barbecues, and indoor or outdoor socializing areas. The park is always open and it is considered a European Best Practice in urban regeneration (Parco Ort9, n.d.).

DCIM\100MEDIA\DJI_0017.JPG

1 Ort9 Sergio Albani urban garden. www.viverein.org

The role of the citizenship and the local authorities

The creation of the park would not have been possible without the support of the local authorities, specifically the 9th District, which gave Vivere In NGO the concession for the management of the space, also entrusting the Association with the cleaning of the green area surrounding – service for which the NGO gets no compensation.

Other actors involved are the Council of Culture of the 9th District of Rome, the Local Health Agency (ASL), which uses part of the shared lots for the treatment of people with mental illness or former drug addicts, and some public schools in the neighborhood, which use the plots for practical educational workshops. The Council of Culture of the Rome 9th District played a crucial role especially in the launch of the initiative (see point “timeline”).

But the main actors of the whole process are the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who over the years have pursued a common project. As declared by the President of Vivere In, Filippo Cioffi, in an interview to Urlo Web, “these gardens are not the ultimate goal, but the tool to recapture the territory and enhance it. They, even if individually managed, allow people to share a common idea and the use of the spaces allows the neighborhood to be redeveloped”. Cioffi also recalled the disappearance of prostitution phenomena, in addition to the evident arrangement of the area, previously hosting an open-air landfill that the citizens themselves have reclaimed. “To speed up a too slow bureaucracy – continued Cioffi – we ourselves took away the abandoned refrigerators and had the land analyzed, two indispensable factors to be able to start the gardens” (Savelli, 2017).

The timeline and the effects of the initiative
2006
– Vivere In NGO presents a draft proposal for the accommodation of the area to the Municipal

Administration.

2015 – the Council of Culture of the 9th District presents to the Municipality of Rome, in collaboration with Vivere In and with the involvement of the Casal Brunori District Committee, a project of the Constitution of the “ORT9” Committee of the District IX, to “actively promote a network of associations present in the area, coordinated by the Deputy Presidency of the District IX, as a technical-administrative reference point, functional to the realization of future projects of urban social gardens in urban and peri-urban areas of the Municipality of Rome” (STIFINI, 2015).

The goal was to actively collaborate in the “realization of the ORT9 Pilot Urban Garden of the 9th District, as a model of excellence for the city of Rome, developed as part of the international project 4

SIDIG-MED, financed by the European Commission, with the aim of developing a model of good governance of urban and peri-urban agrarian/agricultural areas in the Mediterranean, the promotion of social and intercultural dialogue in and between the 4 urban realities involved: city of Rome (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Mahdia (Tunisia) and Al – Balgua (Jordan)” (STIFINI, 2015).

The 2015 proposal of the Council of Culture to the Municipality of Rome was, in effect, an invitation to participate in the EU tender which would have allowed, subsequently, to obtain the necessary funds for the start of the works.

2016 – the reclamation of the area begins
2017 – inauguration of the urban garden (individual and shared plots)

2021 – expansion of the garden and creation of other facilities (plots for wheelchair users and people with visual impairments; lighting; barbecue area; squares)

The beneficiaries of the initiative

The beneficiaries of the park is the population of Casal Brunori neighborhood in general, who can access a public park that is always open, and more specifically the 110 families assigned to individual urban gardens (originally 107 families and since 2021, 3 families of wheelchair users). School pupils and people subjected to health treatment who use shared gardens are also direct beneficiaries.

The main objectives and values of the initiative

The aspirations with the creation of the park can be summarized in the sentence expressed by the District Committee in its presentation, and which is based on the creation of value for the whole territory: “to bring an example of ‘being together’, a rediscovered feeling of sharing, a way to regain possession of the territory, an area previously abandoned and returned to people, a rediscovered scent of beauty” (Il parco, 2020).

In concrete terms, the goals, which have been achieved, are to recover about 12km2 of public space that has become an illegal landfill to return it to the community.

Limits of the initiative

According to Filippo Cioffi, President of Vivere In, the institutional limits have arisen from the distrust of the Municipal Administration to formally allocate areas to social urban gardens even if regulated by the Master Plan in its Articles 75 and 85.
The physical limits are linked to the absence of specific funds for recovery, cleaning and executive planning of the community garden system. In the absence of a precise policy, the practice is to occupy the areas and self-finance its use, which creates uneven and non-homogeneous situations, instead of where the ideal situation of programming a governance model, an essential element for the correct management of spaces and the community.

A critical point mentioned by Mr. Cioffi is that the demand for urban gardens is much higher than the supply. Annual waivers between 10/15% fail to meet the continuing demand for assignments, which have exceeded 100% and continue to grow.

How the initiative engages with climate

(does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?)

From all the testimonies I have heard, and also from the interactions I have had with the people responsible for the care of the Park and the projects carried out by Vivere In NGO, I did not seem to glimpse, in the narratives, a connection between the park or only between urban gardens and initiatives to mitigate or adapt to climate change. On the part of public institutions and promoters of the initiative, there is a call for environmental sustainability, urban regeneration and commons.

The main dimensions that emerge in the stories, as positive points and reasons for the success of the initiative (which has won several prizes as a good practice of urban regeneration), are those relating to the sociality that the Park provides, and to the recovery of contact with nature, as well as the aspects of decorum of the urban space, removed from neglect to be usable again by the citizens of the neighborhood. Further positive effects of urban gardens are related to health and education, due to the partnerships with the Local Health Agency and with some schools.

Therefore, the connection between climate change and the Park can only be made in the context of analysis and interpretation, but it does not seem to emerge from the third sector organizations and from the local authorities involved or from the direct beneficiaries. The reason for this deviation, in my opinion, is that climate change is still seen as a distant concept for most people, especially those who live in urban areas not particularly prone to extreme events. Thus the same local authorities and 6

grassroots organizations of the territory do not seem to conceptually include urban regeneration initiatives focused on the creation or recovery of green areas in the spectrum of measures to mitigate climate change.

Possible broader changes thanks to the initiative

As Filippo Cioffi explains, “the experience in the management of the Ort9-Sergio Albani Park and the governance model adopted by the Vivere In NGO was recognized as a European good practice in the panel ‘Resilient urban and peri-urban agriculture’ and is now shared, through the Ru:rban EU projects. The NGO participates of several platforms and projects and is a reference point in the community”.

The governance model could be replicated, but it could be constraint by the limits and characteristics of each local community. For sure many inhabitants of Casal Brunori have changed the way to interact with their territory and among each other. The quality of their lives has improved since they have the park and the urban gardens. So I suppose that even if the main promoter actor, Vivere In NGO, suspended its activities, it would leave a more engaged community. Even if the engagement is directly related to climate change, to retake contact with the own territory through participatory activities, even to reach what could appear like small goals (such as an urban garden), could contribute, in time, to create long-term awareness about climate change and its challenges.

Potential replicability in other settings

Urban gardens are an expanding reality in many large European cities and other continents. It is certainly a facility that can be replicated, as there are many residual spaces in the suburbs that could be converted into self-managed green areas for use by the community, which could host individual or shared garden plots.

However, there is a crucial aspect in the creation and management of urban gardens, which is linked to the ownership of the land. While in Rome most of the urban gardens are located on communal lands, the same does not necessarily occur in other cities, and in other countries.

To stay in European territory, in England, it is normal that groups of people or basic organizations interested in creating an urban garden, must negotiate with private individuals, with whom to stipulate an adequate contract (ie allotment, license, lease) in order to create the garden and be adequately

protected from a legal point of view (Leases, 2020).

Rome is perhaps a city particularly full of abandoned public places which, with the stubbornness of the grassroots communities, a lot of patience and a bit of luck in identifying and maintaining dialogue with the institutional interlocutor, can be recovered and reintroduced for the benefit of community.

The first challenge, in general, is to find the land (which includes the analysis of practical issues related to the slope, the sun, the presence of water, etc.). Then there are the legal aspects of its management. Not to mention the need to analyze all aspects related to the community’s relationship with space. If we are talking about a regulated space (ie not an occupation), it will probably be necessary to set up a legal entity to manage it. The cohesion of the community and its ability to know how to deal with obstacles, to know how to dialogue with local authorities and other stakeholders in the area, is certainly a fundamental question when thinking about the replicability of an urban garden (Da Luz, 2020).

We can find still other differences in urban garden management in a metropolis such as São Paulo, Brazil, a country that presents enormous problems related to land ownership and management, and where family farming and small farmers are relegated to the second category in terms of investment in agriculture and of value perception. One great challenge is to rethink new systems of agricultural production, distribution and consumption, starting from the experiences of urban and peri-urban agriculture that have been taking place for years in the outskirts of the city.

The experience of San Paolo is different from that of Rome, where the growers of urban gardens – normally organized in non-profit associations – are not allowed to sell the crops. Thus, in Rome it remains an activity linked to self-consumption and the urban garden is conceived more like social innovation and urban/environmental regeneration activities rather than a way to overturn production systems.

There are several vulnerable areas in São Paolo where, through urban gardens, a process of recovery of green areas has been triggered, in a process that sees the suburbs at the forefront both in the production of food and in environmental preservation. But in São Paulo there are huge problems with access to land, water and an optimal logistics system for distribution.

An interesting aspect in the experiences of urban agriculture in São Paulo, reported by Fernando de Mello Franco, director of URBEM, is that due to the high cost of land, production must find underused, residual urban spaces. Areas of abandoned oil pipelines and electrical systems, industrial warehouses, empty parking lots, floors of large buildings, re-signify the residues of production and consumption of the city (De Mello, 2020).

In San Paolo as in Rome, the new dynamics bring back the old debate on the dichotomies between nature and culture, which today takes on the contours of the differentiations between countryside and city, between urban and rural, which are increasingly blurred.

Note about consensus: I declare that the President of Vivere IN NGO, Mr. Filippo Cioffi, gave me permission to publish the interview he granted me.

References:

Casal Brunori, gli orti urbani diventano un parco: “I lavori sono già partiti”. (2021, February 16). Roma Today. https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/spinaceto/orti-urbani-casal-brunori-parco-ort9- trasformazione.html

Da Luz Ferreira, Jaqueline (Coord.) (2020, November). Mais perto do que se imagina: os desafios da produção de alimentos na metrópole de São Paulo. Instituto Escolhas. São Paulo.

De Ghantuz Cubbe, Marina. (2018, September 05). Viaggio nei quartieri, Casal Brunori: dove c’era una discarica adesso c’è l’orto collettivo. https://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/09/05/news/dove_c_era_una_discarica_adesso_c_e_l_orto_ collettivo-300883075/

De Mello Franco, Fernando. (2020, November 27). Seminario Desafios Politicas Publicas Agricultura Urbana e Periurbana. Folha de São Paulo, Instituto Escolhas, e URBEM. Evento virtual. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/seminariosfolha/2020/11/producao-local-e-capaz-de-abastecer-sao- paulo-afirmam-debatedores.shtml

Grilli, F. (2016, July 19). Casal Brunori: in attesa degli orti crescono i rifiuti ingombranti. Roma Today. https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/spinaceto/casal-brunori-bonifica-area-verde-orti- urbani.html

Grilli, F. (2018, May 03). Casal Brunori, gli orti solidali conquistano tutti: vinto anche il Best Practice Award 2018. Roma Today. https://www.romatoday.it/zone/eur/orti-urbani-casal-brunori- best-practice-award.html

Il parco ad ORTI di Casal Brunori…un VALORE per tutto il territorio. (2020, February 19). Casal Brunori. https://www.casalbrunori.org/aree-verdi/il-parco-ad-orti-di-casal-brunori-un-valore-per- tutto-il-territorio/

Leases and Licences; Negotiating Land. Community Land. (2020, October). Advisory Service Cymru. GardeniserPro. Green House Social Farms&Gardens.

Orto Inclusivo. (2020, December 8). Vivere In. https://www.viverein.org/sezioni/progetti/orto- inclusivo/

Parco Ort9 – Sergio Albani Casal Brunori. (n.d). Gardeneiser. https://gardeniser.eu/en/urban- garden/parco-ort9-sergio-albani-casal-brunori

PRG Piano Regolatore Generale – Artt.75. e 85. Nuova Infrastruttura Cartografica (NIC). https://www.comune.roma.it/TERRITORIO/nic-gwt/

Savelli, Serena. (2017, September 21). Gli orti urbani di Casal Brunori diventano realtà. Urlo Web. https://urloweb.com/municipi/municipio-ix/gli-orti-urbani-di-casal-brunori-diventano-realta/

Stifini, Andrea. (2015, September). Progetto Ort9. Consulta della Cultura del Municipio Roma IX EUR. Cultura IX. http://www.cultura9.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ORT9.pdf .

Rome 2200 by Samperi

By Veronica Samperi

June 6th, 2232, 08:29 AM : The H501/V had stood still for sixty-five years at the coordinates 41°85’608″ N12°47’952″E. At this precise point, a hundred years ago, my grandmother Francesca Romana was leading her life in the streets of Rome. Born on September 22nd, 2133, roman town for five generations, Francesca Romana was part of the last land natives. She always told me proudly of her great sense of belonging, of an attachment, yes physical, but above all cultural and emotional, to a specific geographical place. She spoke to me almost obsessively about this place, the city of Rome, which I know only relatively today: it was the first metropolis in the West, powerful enough to influence culture, language, religion, society and art, in all its forms. It was the Eternal City, she told me. But another thing, my grandmother, used to told me “Without water, roses wither. Without treatment, nothing is going to last. “

I have seen few roses in my life, they are not flowers designed to withstand the current temperature and even less the chemical composition of the water that surrounds us every day. Thanks, or because – depending on your point of view – of the stories with which my grandmother made me grow up, I have always longed for things that I don’t even know: valleys covered with daisies, woods teeming with cyclamen and frozen waterfalls. Every day, on Vyta, I go in search of landscapes and places that my world has not known, and it never will, to reconstruct the pieces of a story that preceded me and that will remain, at least this one, forever.

I was born on November 24th, 2208, in the D section of the cruise named “H501/G”, the boat dedicated to the births of newborns in the South-West area of Rome, located for forty-one years at coordinates 41°52’00” N12°29’00″E. On June 3th, 2167, at 00:47, the first birth on – our – floating land, inaugurated a long tradition that literally broke the bridges with the past. With the law decree n. 29/2147 (so-called Quarzi), the obligation to deliver newborns was introduced into our constitution in the individual vessels dedicated to health, located in every pole of the national area. The first to have inaugurated this new method were my grandmother Francesca Romana and her son, not surprisingly, Primo. Furthermore, the law n.27 implied that there was no more than one child per couple, under penalty of expatriation to other poles for aiding and abetting.

 Since that day, there has not been a single birth that did not take place in the appropriate boats, throughout the national territory. When I was born, my grandmother was 75 years old, she always told me that I made her wait a long time, but it was worth it. She was my guide, and every single day of my life up to the age of 18, I spent my time with her. She said she had a mission towards me, that she wanted to keep in me everything that I would never have been able to see with my own eyes. I have always listened to her with ardor, ever since I can remember her, and even today, after six years of not hearing her voice, my days are marked by the memories of her that she sewed on me. However, the true purpose of her “mission” has only recently become clear to me. Maybe she didn’t understand it either: she wanted to apologize. She wanted to repay with me and in some way with all the generations that have followed her, to ensure that all the beauty that she has been able to give the world in the past was not lost. A little with anger, with melancholy but above all with a lot of unawareness, I think and live virtually the life of the past, in a city that I cannot cross, that I cannot touch with my feet, in order to preserve it. Just today, on June 1st, sixty-five years ago, people started their life on ships again, and if as a child I always wondered why this anniversary was not celebrated, as it was done with every anniversary, today I realize that it was the beginning of the end. The end of the old world, of the old life, of freedom. The beginning of new habits, traditions and uses to which people transplanted onto ships have had to get used to after years and years of living a completely different life. Every June 1st at 9:00 am, for sixty-five years, the sirens of our ships have been sounding together, to celebrate, but above all, to remember.

On May 25th, 2167, the evacuation of the old houses began, most of which occurred spontaneously, while others in a forced manner. Some families barricaded themselves inside the house so as not to give in to being transferred to the ships; others carried out extreme gestures: hundreds of dead were found in their homes, in order not to accept such an excessive solution. The days of the eviction, the water was not yet so high, many managed to escape with their cars, but the escape was never successful, due to the police located in each tollbooth, motorway or border with other cities, with specific provisions to bring the fugitives back to their reference boat.

The reason why people were so averse to giving up their lives was simply, because they didn’t know what they were getting into. Such an important limitation of freedom, there had not been since the years of the various coronavirus pandemics that followed: the first periods, to counter the contagion, people could not move from their homes, in a state of total lockdown, not then so different from the situation we live in today. We are all stopped, limited and blocked on our ships, forced to have contact only between us: it is like having a family of 6000 people and at the same time having a superficial relationship with each of them. But thanks to the stories of my grandmother and Vyta, I understood and saw with my own eyes what the ancient world was like, I understood what I was missing.

The people here lived in huge buildings, huge and very high structures that look like our ships, but stuck vertically into the ground. Everything we do on our ship, they did it in their homes or outside, depending on the situation. Some of these people lived in villas, or independent houses: even one person could live in an entire building. Today it is pure science fiction, if we consider that a ship currently has to accommodate at least six thousand inhabitants, distributed in two thousand five hundred cabins. However, most people used to leave their homes in the morning to get to their job or employment, whatever it was. Certainly what we do every day on Vyta, they did it in the open air, without simulation. They did everything for real. My grandmother, for example, used to go to work in museums, huge old buildings that housed thousands of works of art. Her job was to tell visitors what those attractions represented. Only when I grew up did I understand that in short, my grandmother as a girl did exactly what she has always done with me. She was in love with her job and I followed many of her visits guided by her, through the augmented reality of Vyta. She had two sisters and when they were young lived all them together with their parents, in an apartment right at our same coordinates, next to the ancient Saint Paul basilica. Built 697 years ago, it stood on the place that tradition indicates as that of the Paul’s burial, an apostle, with his tomb, right under the altar. I am so interested in the history of this church not because it is particularly devout, but my curiosity stems from the fact that, right inside, my grandmother’s grandparents got married. She told me about it with pride, as if that were the badge of something very prestigious: the sense of belonging to a place, a symbol. The Saint Paul basilica, however, was only one of the four Rome’s papal basilicas: the city was truly immense, among the most famous and loved in the world. People came here every day from far away places to visit its ruins, now flooded; the Colosseum, now destroyed; the many churches and monuments, which are no longer there, due to the current hydrological situation. The sea water, during the past years, due to its biochemical alteration, has progressively soured due to the absorption of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, starting to corrode more and more the foundations of the old buildings, monuments, numerous and very ancient buildings. To avoid their collapse and the consequent danger to the population, the law 27/2131 was enacted: “Destruction and dismantling of ancient buildings, historical monuments, to prevent the collapse of the aforementioned, preserve the territory and facilitate the parking of residential vessels “. In fact, just that year, the city of Rome inhabitants life, and then of the whole Italy’s, changed forever. Ships were introduced as a form of housing, following the model of the Dutch government, which had been working in this direction for years. The first country to take such drastic and “outrageous” decisions, according to my grandmother, was in fact Holland, paving the way for all the other European states, finally allowing itself to be imitated by the whole world.

Russia, the last country to surrender, did so only after Lachta-centr collapsed on itself in 2171, causing 217 deaths and 344 injuries. “It took him a massacre to bow his head. But we all had to do it, without saying a word, ”added my grandmother, lost in her thoughts and memories, as if she were in that precise moment in front of the same scene. I saw, among other things, the fall of Lachta-centr: most people ran away everywhere, like springs gone mad, to run for cover; I witnessed brutal scenes of people jumping into the void from the top floors of the skyscraper; other people pierced by the remains of the structure, which collapsed to the ground like meteorites. Vyta fully returns the brutality of the events that took place, whatever they may be: they are never censored. It is the ethics behind Vyta itself, the political choice to show life as it is, or rather, as it was. You have the task of making people who have lost the opportunity to live on earth participate in any event, as long as the event is present and documented in your database. This artificial intelligence uses the collection of all videos, photos, short films, stories from old and new social networks, old videos from surveillance cameras from countless places. All these testimonies are put together, grouped, in order to recreate the same place or event, at 360 degrees, giving the user the feeling of being exactly there, with the help of the augmented reality viewer. We often talk about contact lenses that allow the user to enjoy the view directly from the irises, but they used them especially at the time of my grandmother, when there were people who could afford them, when the professions were varied and there it was a big social gap. The only good thing about this captivity, according to my grandmother, was that rich and poor literally found themselves “in the same boat”: at the time of the new provisions, all of them, poor, rich, old and young, were forced to face the same problem. It was no longer possible to move, travel, but then .. to go where? It was all destroyed, dismantled, demolished. That’s why Vyta entered our lives. A promise of freedom, of experience, of knowledge, and people have clung to it tooth and nail. Many, too many people I know spend their lives with the augmented reality viewer on their faces, and in this way people have created a life tailored for them. Without all this water around, without being pigeonholed in the iron cabins, without the obligation to travel only by taxi boat from one boat to another and with a curfew that forces them to return to their ship at a specific time. Andrea is one of my mum’s former classmate, for thirteen years he has not left the ship to carry on his existence on Vyta. He only disconnects to eat or to go to the bathroom. All the rest of the time, Andrea is busy with his “life”: when he is not working, he travels; he has a girlfriend; a house in the mountains and many beautiful designer clothes.  As I see it, all of this does not belong to him, but to his avatar. His girlfriend is called Marta and she lives at coordinates 43°27’47” N11°52’41”: Vyta gave me back the photos of an old city, called Arezzo. They met at work during a meeting and for years, according to the gossip of our ship, they have been discussing who should reach whom, at their respective coordinates. A trip, and in this case a transfer, is not a very simple process nowadays. It takes place by means of special boats, quite small, which make several stops in specific places, and each one gets off in the one desired. They are the replacement ships for the old coaches, as my mom told me. The journey is such a complicated process because there is a long bureaucratic process to deal with. She or he who is about to leave must submit an online application addressed to the appropriate organizations, within which he must explain the reasons for his departure; specify the ship of destination; declare the intention to remain indefinitely at the chosen ship. The movement can take place on the chosen ship only and exclusively depending on the availability of a bed or, even better, a cabin. As regards short-stay voyages, however, the laws to be respected are those mentioned above, with the exception of the third: a person must specify the duration of their accommodation on the chosen ship. I don’t have many friends who live near coordinates so far from mine: the longest trip I’ve ever made was to go to the ship of an old classmate of mine, Ambra, almost five years ago. As a child, Ambra lived in the same ship as me, we were inseparable, but due to her mother’s work, her family moved to the coordinates 44°29’38” N11°20’34″E, the ancient Bologna. I went there, obviously with the obligation either to stay overnight at her office, if available, or returning home no later than curfew, I stayed there on her ship for three days. I remember the many recommendations of my parents: from the moment a person does not respect the curfew, your phone sends the localization to the police, even with your mobile phone off, thanks to GPS. But this is rare, because the means of transport are always driven by the staff and never by individuals, so it is unlikely to be around after 11PM. Whenever I can, however, I go to see Massimo. I reach the Sisto ship, which is located at the coordinates 41°88’87’ N12°46’91’E. The name of the boat derives from the old monument that stood near that place, almost seventy years ago: Ponte Sisto. This bridge, which has nothing to do with our typical ship bridges, allowed people to cross the Tiber, the symbol of the city of Rome. In its memory, every single ship that today is stopped right where the river used to flow, is placed a plaque bearing an engraving:

“Here the blond Tiber shone, mirror of the soul of the ancient city”. Many times I have wondered about the meaning of that sentence. It was enough for me to see a single photo of the old city at night, with the lights and monuments reflecting on its surface.

The ship where Massimo lives is phisically the same as mine, also the view isn’t that different after all. Perhaps the only difference is that there are more ships around than in my house. At these coordinates, there are three Meat Labs, the laboratory-boats that deal with the production of synthetic meat. This artificial meat has been adopted since 2097, the years of the deepest environmental crisis ever recorded. In those years, thousands of people refused, some of them went on hunger strike going to protest at the institutional poles. Over the years, however, people had to adapt to this novelty, because most of the consortia and organizations that dealt with livestock farming were dismantled. Climatic factors were the first causes of abandonment of this ancient tradition: the food grown for animals was no longer edible due to the quality of the air and the presence of water, causing radical rot and terrible epidemics. The focus was therefore on the production of in vitro meat, a product on which scientists had already been working for over fifty years to save the situation.

I have never visited the Meat Lab for real, just through a guide on Vyta, which showed a ship just like the residential ones, but with huge machinery that, due to their size, replace the cabins. It’s estimated that in two months of in vitro meat production, 50,000 tons of meat are generated from just ten muscle cells of pork, one of several extinct animals, which, however, thanks to its stem cells capable of self-renewing, can produce others. My mother and father work in one of the Meat Labs, at Massimo’s coordinates, so very often it happens that I take advantage of the passage of the company boat to put my nose out of my comfort zone, even if it is equivalent to going to a context just like mine. He too would have liked to work in the lab, but our aptitude tests showed that we would both be more likely to “perform other duties” and bla bla bla. We were upset, there is no point in making fun of ourselves. Among the various possibilities of carrying out the tasks

offered by our company, that of working in in vitro meat laboratories is one of the most attractive. When we were both assigned to textile fiber workshops, he decided to contribute to the economy of our community, while I chose to continue to specialize in biology. Grandma Francesca Romana and I have always talked about many things, and there were very few that she really did not want to address: one of these was precisely the university topic. He dreamed of a very different education for my father from that dedicated to us new generations. She would have liked so much for him to study literature, economics, law, and the mere fact that these words are almost unknown to me speaks volumes about today’s consideration of these practices. There is no reason to deal with political or economic doctrines, because there is no way to change the rules and laws we live with, which are made specifically for our current situation. For example, the economy is not something that must concern us closely, on the contrary… or at least this is what schools have been offering for years, during orientation days. So girls and boys, after finishing high school, can choose to continue their studies and specialize in one of the following degrees: biology, ecology, chemistry. It happens if they don’t want to immediately carry out the aptitude tests to decide the socially useful job they are going to fill. They are very similar and certainly connected branches, but the meaning of the specific choice lies in the fact that upon obtaining the degree, the graduate will cover immediately exactly the role for which he studied: my grandmother has always called this procedure “science fiction”. This year I started my second year of oceanography: we study the few primitive species that still inhabit the seas, but above all the others, which are in daily mutation, due to the alteration of the waters that host them. The various fishes that swim under our ships are not edible and science, which for years has wanted to carry out the same procedure as in vitro meat, is trying all of them in order to alter their biochemical and genetic composition.

The main reason why I study oceanology, however, is one above all: what I study gives me hope. For months I have been busy comparing the various sea level data, starting from 2035 to today: never before has a lowering of the seas been seen as important as recorded at this time. During the lessons, our professors tell us that these are approximate data and above all not to be disclosed because they are sensitive data. In my opinion, however, they ask us not to talk about it because they could instill a glimmer of hope, and hope, we know, it’s the light that comes out of the cracks, but the cracks are uncomfortable. My professor, however, was unbalanced with me, she told me that there are rumors that the glaciers are slowly reforming. Perhaps this one life I know is just a stalemate, perhaps out of here, there is still something to believe in.