<Restructuring the Via Giulia, Rome, 2010

Via Giulia was built in Renaissance Rome to cut across the medieval space and to impose a sense of order on the city. When Mussolini demolished the historical buildings to make room for his avenue boulevard designed planned to connect Ponte Mazzini to Corso Vittorio Emanuele in the 1930s, the unity of the street was destroyed. The failure of this major project of the fascist government left an empty area for 70 years at the height of Piazza della Moretta.[3.1] Today, the architectural objective is to hark back revoke to the Renaissance profile of the streetscape, while the private construction of an underground parking facility has moved forward independently. [4.1] The archaeological digs on the site have brought to light the remains of Roman stables from the Augustan Age. The existing archaeological site—fully documented—has been covered with a protective layer of earth. Instead of reconstructing the demolished buildings, Diener & Diener decided to make the garden its guiding principle in the reconstruction of the profile of the street. Neither buildings in classical style nor others in modern style could have restored Via Giulia to its ancient unity. They would have simply contributed to eliminating the remaining traces of the urban history of the street. The concept of the garden, however, underlines the historical continuity: where the plans of fascist origin were overlaid on the Renaissance city, now a garden is superimposed on these plans. A high wall surrounds the garden. At one point the wall opens onto Via Giulia. It frames and sets the experience of the new street landscape, captured without overlooking or suppressing the wounds inflicted here during the 1930s.