From Porta del Popolo, passing through Villa Dominici and the gates of Metronia, Latina, San Sebastiano, up to the Ponte dell'Industria, a photographic itinerary that narrates a monument as imposing as it is invisible to the Romans: the Aurelian walls.
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| Internal section of the walls along Viale di Porta Ardeatina [Credit: la Repubblica] |
Built in the third century as a defence on its outskirts and then incorporated into the fabric of the city, the Aurelian Walls, which extend over 12 km (of the original 19), are the largest monument of Imperial Rome and the longest, oldest and best preserved urban wall in history. And yet, despite all this, they are in a state of decay: infested by climbing plants, subjected to continuous water infiltrations and, as happened a few days ago, to increasingly frequent collapses.
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| Interior of the Walls on Via Campania. Studio Randone, Ceramic School [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| Tower of Porta Asinaria and the San Giovanni district [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| The Aurelian Walls at Piazzale Labicano and the water utility building constructed in 1935 [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| Tower on Lungotevere Testaccio [Credit: la Repubblica] |
The Capitoline Superintendence, after more than a century since the historical photographic campaigns of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, inaugurates the photographic exhibition "Walls", at the Ara Pacis Museum, from June 20 to September 9. Seventy-seven images of Andrea Jemolo follow the entire route of the walls, even in places not accessible to the public. This is the first step towards a wider process of enhancement: a loan from the Municipality is scheduled to be granted between 2018 and 2020, of 6 million euro plus a further 500 thousand for engineering studies.
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| Tower of Porta Asinaria and the San Giovanni district [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| Wall section between Via Campania and Corso d'Italia [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| St Paul's Gate with the Pyramid of Caius Cestius [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| The Torto Wall from the bridge of Villa Borghese [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| The Walls along the Viale Carlo Felice [Credit: la Repubblica] |
"From the investigations of 2012 we have found that about 6 km of walls require intervention", explains the Capitoline superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce, "it is 100,000 square metres at a cost of 420 euros per square metre, making a total of 42 million euros".
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| Aurelian Walls along the Viale Policlinico [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| Wall section incorporated into the Villa Dominici along the Viale di Porta Tiburtina [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| Walls section with aqueduct above along the Via Casilina Vecchia [Credit: la Repubblica] |
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| The Walls and the aqueduct along the Via Casilina Vecchia [Credit: la Repubblica] |
It will start from the section of the Via del Policlinico, which collapsed at the beginning of last year. In addition to the 6 million euros will be added 400 thousand euros from a local sponsor that will be used to expand the pedestrian walkway in the stretch around Porta San Sebastiano. It is a beginning, certainly, but there is still a lot of work to be done, in what, today more than ever, is a race against time. A private sponsor would be needed to take over a larger project to save the walls. But when it comes to patrons, the superintendent concludes, "there aren't any at the moment".
Source: la Repubblica [June 23, 2018]
TANN
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