THE BRIEF: Moments of Rome

The history of stitching is exploring the nature of never-ending overlay of Rome as a city and it is searching for paradox and informality in its historical aggregation.

The challenge is to make a distinction between interventions which aim to formalize the urban order even though the way they are executed appears as an informal intervention. Mussolini’s insertion of Via dei Fori Imperiali which establishes a straight corridor between the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia (1924 – 1932) is clearly an attempt to formalize the city. This intervention was, on the other hand, done through imposition of a street on top of a series of Imperial Forums, splitting them in half and creating a strange set of leftovers in the most ad-hoc fashion. 

In front of you is a small selection of urban details, photographs taken in July 2014 in Rome. They are a piece of a wider research about forms of architectural survival. Between definitions of formal and informal transformation of Rome, “stitching” is defined as a never ending, historical, process of change, physical, social and political.

5 moments of Rome...

Remains of the Baths of Agrippa,
12 BC

Casa dei Crestenzi, 1065 AD.
Tower incorporated pieces of
monuments from Antiquity

San Nicola in Carcere, 6^th century.
Church incorporated columns 
from 3 ancient temples

Façade detail of the house
in the Roman Gheto

Façade detail of Monastery of
The Oblate di Santa
Francesca Romana