Rome: The city of ancient pine trees and plastic flowers
I visited Rome as a part of my design foraging mission to find plants to represent different cities for my new City bracelet collection. Rome in the summer is vibrant, scorching hot, wonderfully messy and noisy, a city overflowing with rich history, ancient trees and plastic flowers.
Must haves:
- good, comfy shoes, you will be walking (a lot)
- water bottle
- a hat
- lots and lots of ice cream
Via Giulia the green street
This street is one of the greenest and prettiest I’ve ever encountered. Here, you can see Michelangelo’s impressive unfinished viaduct, now covered in luscious ivy. Head down this street to enjoy its greenery and lovely artisan shops.
Hosteria del mercato
Nothing is better than enjoying your lunch among the luscious greenery and this lovely restaurant offers just that, plus they have a great selection of organic and vegan food options.
Villa Borghese Gardens
I picked one of my designs for my Rome city bracelet from Borghese Gardens, a small acorn from a beautiful holly oak tree. These gardens aren’t just a park, they’re an experience. Within the gardens you’ll find several museums, beautiful buildings, impressive fountains, a lake and an overall amazing green space filled with mediterranean plants. Built by an architect Flaminio Ponzio, who went off of sketches created by Scipione Borghese, the gardens today remain as they were when they were remade in the late 18th century.
Today the Borghese Gallery is located in the Villa Borghese itself and it houses an impressive collection of art, including pieces from world-famous artists such as Carvaggio and Raphael. I recommend you to visit them in the early morning hours. On my way from Borghese gardens to the Spanish Steps I also foraged capers from a small wall fountain on the Viale della Trinità dei Monti street.
Villa Medici
One of the many villa’s you will find in the Borghese Gardens is Villa Medici. It houses the French Academy in Rome and a beautifully kept garden in which they host art exhibitions year round.
Trevi Fountain
Fontana di trevi is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome and one of the most famous fountains in the world. Apart from it being beautifully crafted and absolutely majestic, what really drew me in were the delicate floral and plant details. Almost overshadowed by its more imposing sculptures, the floral motifs can be found everywhere around the fountain.
THE PATH TO A GREENER ROME
The mayor of Rome unveiled a master plan to turn the Eternal City into a green, low-carbon, post-petroleum capital. The plan, one of the most ambitious ever for the city, calls for Rome to invest more than $615 million (U.S.) over the next 2 decades in new business and clean industries. This move, when carried out, will result in thousands of new jobs and also make the capital more independent of fossil fuels.
Plans call for three main areas of development:
- Turning the congested historic core of Rome into a greener, pedestrian-friendly space;
- Developing the commercial and industrial “ring” around Rome; and
- Improving the agriculture districts outside Rome to reduce carbon imprint