Aware of the weight of its illustrious history, Rome has managed to preserve an impressive number of archaeological monuments in the center of its city.
The Colosseum, the Circus Maximus and the Roman Forum and Imperial Forums are just some of the sites clustered in the heart of the city.
As Rome, which will celebrate its 2,777th birthday on April 21, moves into its third millennium, city leaders are promoting a new vision of this area as a giant
, pedestrian-friendly
public space
that supporters say , will promote Rome's ancient past.
"Italy is working to make the most of what is arguably the most important concentration of history, archaeology, art and nature in the world," Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said Tuesday at a news conference announcing that Labics , a Rome-based architecture firm and
urban planning
practice , had won a competition to renovate the area.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's Culture Minister, left, and Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, unveiling the new city center project on Tuesday. Photo Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
The area is also typically bustling with tourists and those who serve them, including tour guides, street vendors, and street performers.
Some streets in the area are closed to traffic except for buses and taxis, but others are busy roads that connect several neighborhoods with the city center or with the road that winds along the Tiber River.
Some critics say the plan could turn central Rome into an
open-air
Disneyland .
Recipients
When the project was first announced last year, Mario Ajello, a journalist, wrote in Il Messaggero, a Rome newspaper, that it was designed for those visiting Rome for a few hours or days, not for those who lived and worked there. and that would transform the city center into “an amusement park for tourists.”
The city had not sufficiently considered that removing traffic from that area of the city center would only transfer
congestion
to adjacent neighborhoods, he added.
Another critic of the project, Italian historian Giordano Bruno Guerri, told the newspaper that city hall leaders should instead address some of the
problems
plaguing tourist sites, such as illegal tour guides, street vendors hawking overpriced water bottles or substitute gladiators. who demand money for selfies.
The project will link Rome's Imperial Forums with other archaeological sites through what city officials have described as an extensive "archaeological walk."
The area will extend from the Colosseum to include the Palatine Hill, the Circus Maximus and the Capitoline Hill, with roads in between. (A later phase will expand the area to the Baths of Caracalla and the beginning of the Appian Way).
When completed, it will be the
largest urban archaeological site
in the world, officials say. Almost 19 million euros (20.5 million dollars) have been allocated for this first phase of the project.
People visiting the area will see more pedestrian areas, new public spaces and walking trails.
Bike lanes will be installed and trees and gardens will be planted.
Public transport will be reorganized.
Terraces will be built so that some parts of the archaeological zones can be seen from above, giving a "better sense of the stratification of Rome," Gualtieri said.
The idea of creating a monumental archaeological zone in the center of the city dates back to the late 19th century, shortly after Rome became the capital of Italy, but it never materialized.
And many Romans were up in arms a decade ago when Ignazio Marino, then mayor, decided to limit traffic on the
Via dei Fori Imperiali
, the wide avenue that links the Colosseum to the central Piazza Venezia, to public transportation.
However, the chaos that many feared would ensue never occurred.
With the current plan, Via dei Fori Imperiali will permanently close to traffic in about a decade, keeping pace with the construction of a
new metro line
crossing the center of Rome and the opening of a station in Piazza Venezia planned for 2033.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's culture minister, said Tuesday that the Via dei Fori Imperiali, built a century ago during the time of
Benito Mussolini
, would be preserved as a monumental thoroughfare.
City officials said Tuesday that once the project goes through the necessary paperwork, work on the archaeological walk could begin in September.
"We are eager to begin the next phase," the mayor said.
Francesco Isidori, one of the directors of Labics, said the plan is to make the archaeological area more understandable to people around the world.
And the hope is that it will draw Romans from the central suburbs to better appreciate what draws millions of tourists to the Eternal City each year.
"We have tried to create a welcoming place where Romans can walk, sit and rest in the shade and meet with others," Isidori said of the plans.
"We wanted to give the heart of Rome back to the Roman citizens and the community at large."
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