Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(historic center), a term that is now in such common use that it is hard to believe
it has existed for only half a century. although the Gubbio conference took place
during the postwar economic boom in italy, it was far from forward-looking in
its objectives. its aims were distinctly retro, even by the standards of the time. it
looked to recreate the kind of romantic approach of nineteenth-century savants,
such as John Ruskin and Viollet-le-Duc, that conceived of archaeological sites as
picturesque ruins, situated in verdant spaces, quarantined from the chaos, noise,
and dirt of daily life during the industrial Revolution. The goal of the Gubbio
Charter was analogous; it aimed to provide a cordon sanitaire between the sacred
space of the past and the contemporary commercial and industrial development
that was sweeping italy (Dainotto 2003, 69).
The impact of this approach can be clearly seen in postwar Rome where the
historic center entered a period of stagnation. This was in sharp contradistinc-
tion to the outskirts of the city where there was rampant, often uncontrolled, new
development. The contrast between the two areas could not have been starker,
but whatever the political and demographic realities of its spatial boundaries,
Rome was symbolically conceived as the historic center with its ancient monu-
ments (salvagni 2005, 13). its designation as the eternal City rendered any idea of
modernizing it a contradiction in terms;1 it had already reached a state of perfec-
tion and, as it had been there for eternity, clearly nothing needed to be done to
safeguard its future. Thus the monuments of the city center were not threatened
by new development, but neither were they cared for. in practical terms, two cit-
ies existed: the historic city center which was the locus of social and cultural life
and the magnet for foreign tourists (particularly the well-heeled variety), and
a polycentric periphery that housed increasing numbers of local people pushed
out of the center by rising prices. These areas suffered from social deprivation,
high levels of unemployment, poor facilities, and weak transportation links (an-
selmi 2005, 131).2 This extended period of urban neglect came to a clamorous end
in 1978 when the archaeological monuments began, quite literally, to fall apart.
Chunks of masonry fell of the Column of marcus aurelius and the state of many
other monuments gave cause for concern; the situation was further exacerbated
by a small earthquake the following year. as well as structural damage, relief
sculptures on many ancient monuments had all but disappeared, a clear indica-
tion that the primary cause of the damage was chemical degradation resulting
from traffic pollution (la Regina 1985, 7). The archaeological superintendent of
the time, adriano la Regina, drew up an ambitious plan to turn a large area
of central Rome into a traffic-free archaeological park that, on the eastern side,
would segue into the archaeological park of the Via appia (Cagnardi 1985, 45).
This idea found favor with the minister for cultural patrimony, oddo biasini,
who passed a law to finance the project, setting aside 180 billion lire for it (packer
1989, 40).
Search WWH ::




Custom Search