Rome

Occupy Goes Global!

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 4

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 Pigneto–Prenestino 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.).

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.