Day 1, Monday: 30.09.24
The day of 30/09 is devoted to the journey between Pau and Rome, via Paris CDG. Angela and I are welcomed by Mattia, who was kind enough to pick us up at Fiumicino airport at 11pm, after a few mishaps with luggage and transfer of the access details to our accommodation, which did not allow us to reach Rome on our own by public transport. It had been a long and somewhat stressful day, and we were happy to collapse into the cosy beds of our apartment, located in the south of Rome.
Day 2, Tuesday: 01.10.24
Our apartment, very functional and comfortable, is in a quiet neighbourhood, a stone’s throw from the metro and a half-hour walk from the Replay Network office, where we have an appointment this morning.
Mattia gives us a warm welcome and explains the week’s programme, as well as the deliverables expected: a daily ‘diary’, as well as the identification of a ‘good practice’ in the garden that will welcome us during this week. He gives us written instructions for the editorial layout of the ‘good practice’, as well as an example written by a previous trainee. He has also printed out his ‘diary’ for us. He then takes us by public transport to our host garden: ‘Orti Urbani Monte Ciocci’ (Monte Ciocci Urban Garden). The garden is located on a hill in the north-west of Rome, in a very affluent neighbourhood, facing the Vatican.
Access to the garden is hard-earned: 2 aeroplanes, 1 train, the metro and finally 193 steps (-:
We are welcomed by Barbara and Emmanuella, who show us the garden, how it works and the projects currently underway with schools.
The garden was originally a public space. Volunteers (local residents) cleaned it up together and turned it into a community urban garden in 2014. It now consists of 19 plots, cultivated by volunteers.
After focusing on the cultivation of the plots, numerous projects were developed to develop social actions (among volunteers, in schools, among the public – see appendix 1: presentation and operation of the garden).
This garden must comply with the city’s regulations. In particular, each beneficiary of a plot must cultivate it (without pesticides). In addition, the space must be open to the public and visitors. It is open every day from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in winter and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in summer. It is closed only in August.
The project with the schools (an elementary school class from the neighbourhood, on the one hand, and disabled pupils from the neighbouring agricultural college, on the other hand), has the particularity of having continuity of activities with the same pupils over several years in a row, which particularly aroused my interest. Indeed, the impact is much greater than during one-off visits. The interest of the ‘continuity’ in this project made me choose it as a ‘good practice’, which will be described in a separate document (origin of the approach, stages and worksheets implemented).Visite du jardin :
The garden has a small greenhouse measuring approximately 2m by 5m. The volunteers grow summer vegetable plants, but generally buy their winter vegetable plants.
There is also a communal area with tables and chairs, a compost heap, fruit trees, a wooden shed for a small clean storage space and for changing, an underground area (former bomb shelter) for storing tools, as well as access to water (from a nearby dog park: the water from the fountains for the dogs is collected in a 5000L underground tank equipped with a pump for the garden). A drinking water fountain has been installed by the city at the entrance to the garden.
Note that the garden does not have toilets (you need to go to a café in town, about 15 minutes’ walk away, or find somewhere in the little wood), nor any space sheltered from the rain, which is a problem for events and even on a day-to-day basis for volunteers.
The soil is generally worked with a hoe and spade. The soil is fertilised using bagged compost and is generally left bare, except for one or two volunteers who have been constantly mulching (mainly with hay) for the last 3-4 years and have practised not working the soil. However, they are a little disappointed by the lack of productivity. We have exchanged ideas on possible improvements in this area.
Les principaux légumes d’hiver plantés sont des choux, des salades (laitues et chicorées), des navets et des fenouils (A noter : pas de poireaux). On peut observer de nombreuses vivaces aromatiques et des fleurs, ce qui rend le jardin très beau.
Lunch break with Barbara, who takes us to a typical covered market (pizza and fried rice balls).
In the afternoon, we first plant cabbages on Maurizio’s plot, then Arianna takes us over, and tells us about her educational project to create a dichotomous key to recognise 15 varieties of fruit trees. This key exists in paper and digital format. She will tell us more about this project later in the week. We also linger in her garden, which is the only one with mulch. We then sow lettuce, parsley, chard, escarole and fennel.
The very end of the afternoon is spent travelling back to our apartment by public transport, passing quickly through St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Dinner in the evening with Angela in a restaurant located right next to our apartment.
Day 3, Wednesday: 02.10.24
This morning we have an appointment with Carlotta and a group of Colombian trainee gardeners at a metro station near our accommodation. We go to the ‘IC Maria Capozzi’ school for the official inauguration of a new garden within the school.
The project is part of a PUC (Project Useful to the Community) of the city of Rome. It was managed by Replay Network. The aim was to create an educational garden with people who are far from the labour market. Replay Network thus invests the skills and energy of these beneficiaries to create something that can then be used by the local community (in this case a school). In this way, this type of action also constitutes training for the beneficiaries, who are entrusted with something more sustainable and rewarding than simply cleaning outdoor green spaces.
The meeting of the Colombian gardeners was very cheerful. A partner association (Orti Urbani Sociali tor Carbon Onlus) had prepared all the ingredients for a ‘Paca Digestora’ (a kind of lasagne made of compacted organic matter with a core of fresh vegetable waste).
This method, which comes from Colombia, consists of making layers of various organic materials (branches, leaves, hay, straw, grass clippings, etc.) in a wooden mould and compacting them by walking or rather dancing on them. This fun and exciting technique, thanks to the music and dance, allows the local community to be included in the creation of growing ‘soils’ in urban areas that lack them (see attached explanatory note in appendix 2).
Today, it was the schoolchildren who shared the pleasure of dancing and compacting the paca digestora after the official speech, under the amused gaze of a curious neighbour.
The teachers have been trained and have received a gardening sheet.
In addition, in order to open up this project to the community, there is a plan to reclaim a communal plot of land located just below the school garden. This would give the final garden a dual purpose: access for schoolchildren from the school on one side and for citizens from the street on the other side. Currently, this garden is educational but not communal, as it is located within the school grounds and is therefore closed.
We take advantage of the lunch break to go to our host garden in Monte Ciocci. The afternoon is devoted to observation and work in the garden: as for me, planting cabbages, lettuces, chicory and fennel on Anna’s plot. As identified the day before, I was able to note that the soil in the gardens was worked very hard to obtain a fine, loose soil (hoe, spade, addition of compost and raking). The couch grass is buried, which facilitates its regrowth.
Sometimes fresh manure or organic matter is brought in, which promotes the development of soil life, but the supply of hay or manure is complicated in the heart of the city. However, green waste from the garden could be recycled. The purchase of a shredder is also planned.
Thus, in the majority of cases, only compost is provided and the soil is left bare. The planting and inter-row distances necessary for the proper development of the plants are not necessarily respected, nor is the principle of crop rotation.
We then meet Flavio, president of the association and Gardeniser, who explains to us that in this garden, the most important thing is to have a good time together; production is secondary. In preparation for the 10th anniversary celebrations planned for next Saturday, there is a strong sense of competition and mutual support to make the garden as beautiful as possible, weeding and planting each plot. Everything must be finished by Friday and the culinary preparations have already started.
In the evening we have dinner with Angela in the restaurant near our accommodation.
Day 4, Thursday: 03.10.2024
The weather forecast for Thursday is very bad, so we don’t plan to meet in the garden. I spend the early part of the morning rereading, completing my notes and familiarising myself with the documents sent by Replay Network in relation to the work requested.
We then make our way to Flavio’s house via a quick tour of Rome in the rain and a pizza lunch break. Arianna also joins us there. The afternoon is devoted to exchanging information concerning the history of the garden, the evolution of its operation up to the present day, the operation of the office, the statutes, the obligations towards the city of Rome (reminder of regulations: organic cultivation and the obligation to cultivate one’s plot), see appendix 1.
In recent years, the emphasis has been on the development of social projects (socialising, opening up to schools and vocational colleges, etc.).
Today, it is above all the desire to come to the garden that is being encouraged: gardening, but also talking, making friends, looking at the flowers, playing cards, etc. The garden is a way of making people feel better (the elderly, the sick). It also allows for bonding with children through projects with schools. The energy of the garden provides therapy through living.
Arianna also explains in more detail her project to create dichotomous keys to recognise fruit trees in the garden, see appendix 3: ‘How to make a dichotomous key-1’.
We then talk about her different way of cultivating her garden, according to the ‘Capello non-method’, which uses hay for mulching and respects crop rotations (leaves/cabbage, fruit, roots, garlic/onion). Manure is applied and green manure is planted to improve soil fertility. Her practices are very different from those of the other members of the garden and ultimately very similar to mine. She despairs at the lack of results, but I encourage her to continue increasing the amendments (compost and manure) until the soil regenerates and becomes even more alive thanks to the organic matter left on the surface (kitchen waste and hay).
In the evening, Flavio and Arianna take Angela and me to dinner at ‘Eataly’, a kind of shopping centre selling quality Italian products and with several restaurants. We eat some very good pasta and try some cooked turnip greens. We discover that Italians have a pronounced taste for bitter flavours and, unlike the French, they don’t eat leeks at all (hence the absence of leeks observed in the gardens visited).
Day 5, Friday: 04.10.24
The day is devoted to working in the garden and, above all, to preparing for the party by the volunteers who have been busy for several days already preparing the dishes to be enjoyed, cakes, setting up tables, chairs, shade sails, arbours, decorations (photos hung on wires).
I spend a good part of the day with Maria Gracia, a volunteer who is in charge of the educational project with the nearby school, which I have chosen as a good practice (see details in the good practice ‘Projects with schools in the Monte Ciocci garden’)
Maria shows me all the aromatic plants and flowers (mostly perennials) in the garden. She then explains to me how the children’s garden is organised, as well as the activities on offer. The cultivated areas are small squares surrounded by boards. Signs indicate the nature of the crops. Small stones with the children’s names on them allow the children to identify their crops. Adding vegetable peelings to the plots allows for on-site composting to improve the soil.
During a break, the volunteers also take me on a tour of the botanical garden located right next to the shared garden. There are many remarkable trees there. The history of the site (post-Second World War) means that there are still farms with light dwellings and animals that the municipality cannot dislodge, giving a cosmopolitan feel to this area located in the middle of an affluent residential neighbourhood with a view of the Vatican.
We have a picnic in the garden and then spend the early afternoon finishing cleaning and preparing one last plot so that everything is ready for the party the next day (weeding by hand and with a hoe, spade and rake).
At the end of the afternoon, Arianna takes us to the other side of the city to visit another shared garden: ‘Orti urbani Valle dei Casali APS’. We are welcomed by Elisabetta (president and gardeniser), Roberto and Leonardo. This garden is much larger than Monte Ciocci (63 plots of 50m2 and 110 to 120 volunteers) but the crops are similar. It is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It has a wide range of facilities: a large greenhouse for seedlings, several sheds for storing equipment (fridges, water supply with a borehole, tools), large marquees for activities sheltered from the rain. It is also a place for experimentation (cotton cultivation for example, beehives). The water consumption of each plot is monitored in order to respect the total consumption allocated by the city to the garden (18 m3/year). The fee is €100/year for volunteers, €20/year for those who do not have a plot. It is requested that the garden be cultivated in summer and/or winter. The winter garden is considered easier (less watering). Work on the communal areas is carried out on Saturdays or Sundays once a month. You are asked to come at least every other time.
A group of dedicated volunteers take care of the seedlings. Other volunteers place orders and buy the plants produced on site to finance the purchase of seeds.
The plots are not mulched either. It should be noted that Rome is a city that does not lack water. It is still supplied by the ancient aqueducts. The drinking fountains in the city, moreover, are constantly flowing to avoid any risk of damage to the ancient water supply systems. Some gardens that do not have this abundance of water nevertheless practice permanent ground cover.
In the evening, we are invited to an official dinner in another garden in Rome, having welcomed the group of Colombian trainees. During this evening, where officials from the city of Rome are present, we listen to several speeches, then each trainee is invited to share, in his or her language, his or her experience in the host gardens. These experiences are then translated into Italian by Andrea, from Replay Network. We have the chance to savour typical Roman dishes and excellent cakes, which are also very low in sugar, which makes them even better.
We take this opportunity to discover their new small greenhouse, which seems suitable for the needs of many shared gardens and reproducible (see appendix 5).
Day 6, Saturday: 05.10.24
In the morning, we take stock of the week at the replay network office with Andréa: we fill in several administrative documents and say goodbye to the group of Colombian trainees, who are finishing their stay.
We also indicate the good practice that we have identified and note it on a board so that Mattia can check the consistency of the good practices chosen by the trainees.
Then, we head to the Monte Ciocci garden for the birthday party. As the public transport drivers are on strike, we arrive very late by car in the pouring rain. As the garden does not have a covered area, the party is somewhat spoilt by the weather and postponed until the following evening to finish the dishes, but we do have a warm time with the volunteers who have welcomed us all week.
I leave the garden with a heavy heart, admiring its ‘window on the world’ and the care taken with its entrance:
We spend the end of the afternoon with Angela visiting the Botanical Gardens of Rome and the Trastevere district (Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere then climb to the Janiculum in the early evening, where we have a magnificent view of Rome and the Vatican at sunset). The metro strike means we have to take a taxi, then we have dinner one last time in the small restaurant next to our apartment.
Day 7, Sunday: 06.10.24
Due to the flight tickets, we have an extra day off, which we use to visit Rome under a beautiful blue sky: The Colosseum, the Roman Forum (remember to book these visits well in advance, because we could only see them from the outside as we didn’t have tickets, which was still extraordinary), the Vittoriano (a colossal white marble building, offering beautiful views of the forum and Rome in general), St Peter’s Basilica at the Links…
Our delayed departure also allowed us to return to the Monte Ciocci garden to finish the party, which had been spoilt the previous day by the bad weather. I was delighted to see all the volunteers happy to be able to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their garden in style. The tables were set again, the dishes from the day before were brought out again, photos of the garden were hung on the wires stretched between the fruit trees in the orchard and the party atmosphere was very much in evidence, showing the importance of the social ties created around this garden. A photo competition was held to choose the best photo from the last 10 years and the birthday cake was applauded!
Day 8, Monday: 07.10.24
End of the course and return to Pau via Paris-CDG, stopping to do some shopping for Italian culinary specialities at Eataly, located right next to the station that takes us to Fiumicino airport.
VERY NICE EXPERIENCE!
THANKS TO THE ORGANISERS (ASSOCIATION STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS) !
