Arcadia Italy
Piazza Testaccio Restored to Former Glory
Date
March 10, 2015
A neighborhood square has been carefully recreated in the Roman neighbourhood of Testaccio, a short walk away from Roma Tre University and Arcadia University's Rome Center.
This time-lapse shows the incredible workmanship and dedication that went in to transforming the site into a beautiful, thriving community piazza once city planners had decided, among some controversy, to move the decades-old open-air market from here to a newer spot a few blocks away.
Testaccio, is situated along the Tiber River, south of Isola Tiberina and across the bridge from its more touristy neighbor, Trastevere. This is where Francesco Totti's AS ROMA, one of Rome's two soccer (calcio) teams, and home to the Città dell'Altra Economia, a collection of businesses dedicated to sustainable enterprise and solidarity economy, as well as some of the best restaurants, markets, pizzerie and gelaterie in Rome.
It is a lively neighborhood bordering the Tiber and Trastevere, Aventino, Garbatella and Ostiense neighborhoods. We always include walks in Testaccio at Orientation (to the open-air market) and in our Core Course, At Home in Rome, through which students discover Rome's characteristic neighbourhoods and their distinct features.
The piazza remained a work site for several years, leaving bystanders to peer into the fencing wondering what their square might look like when it was done. The film clip, commissioned by the City of Rome, exemplifies Italian craftsmanship and ingenuity both in how the film is made and its subject.
In the early 20s, the original fountain, Fontana delle Anfore, was created to pay homage to the Monte de' Cocci, a veritable mountain of terracotta shards of amphorae thrown in a heap during Nero's era of Ancient Roman times.
After just a short life there, it was moved to a busier spot in the 30s only to return home toPiazza Testaccio this year.
As is so often the case, all walks of creative life came together to create the desired end result; and, as is so often the case, no one really could tell what that end result would be nor when it would come about until, ta-da, it did in typical, glorious Roman fashion.
Archaeologists, waterworks specialists, urban planners, architects, historians and - perhaps most significantly - laborers skilled in the ancient art of masonry worked together to restore new light and vibrancy to the neighbourhood.
The project is an example of urban planning and how it affects, in the long run, community and society, all things you will witness and explore as an Arcadia student in Rome.