Day 1, Monday: 22.09.24
Pizzeria
Evening: Getting to know each other/ Meeting point 19:30 Via Antoniotto Usodimare, 46
Our Group consisting of Ewa Kemble from Austria, the eight Columbians, two people from Spain, Andrea Messori, one of the pioneers of the Gardenis projects and Mattia Modesti, who has been actively involved since 2022, our two friendly, committed tutors/guides with four helping colleagues, and myself first met in a Pizzeria in the district of Garbatella. In advance I had the opportunity to get to know my colleague Ewa, who had also travelled from Vienna, we took a walk through the centre of Rome with lunch in a small trattoria.
A successful start!
Day 2, Tuesday: 23.09.24
Municipal gardening office
Morning: first meeting with local public representatives/meeting point 08:00
Equipped with a cameraman, a translator and another documentary maker in a shared bus, we arrive at a clean and tidy city garden that is not open to the public. We don’t find the vegetable gardens here as we expected. No. We are greeted in the office by Sabrina Alfonsi, Councillor for Agriculture, Environment and Waste Cycle of Roma Capitale.
Thanks to lengthy efforts by Andrea Messori and other active members of the Gardeniser association, there is active cooperation with the urban gardens and the ministry in Rome. She takes a lot of time to exchange ideas and answer questions, especially from the Colombian community. The Colombian initiative, EuropeAid GenerACTOR and Generactor Huertas Communitarias was created in 2022. In collaboration with GenerACTOR Project – Community Gardens for Good Governance Active Citizenship and Participation. A project funded by the European Commission.
ORTI URBANI GARBATELLA Municipio XIII
We then visit the extraordinarily large open space in the Garbatella neighbourhood. This open space is used by the neighbouring residents of the communal buildings (which only exist in this form here in Rome) to grow vegetables, fruit trees and medicinal herbs, as well as for leisure activities. However, its use had to be fought for. In the past, they were parking spaces and the largest motorway in Rome was planned to be build there.
We also inspected the beehives here. Unfortunately, an asian invasive bee species has also settled in Italy. It poses a threat to the bee population in Europe. It covers its protein diet with honey bees, which therefore no longer venture out of their hives and starve to death.
These green spaces, like almost all other open spaces provided in Rome, are owned by the city and residents do not have to pay extra to use them.
ORTI URBANI VALLE DEI CASALI MunicipioXI
Now, back in the rented minibus – Rome is too big to reach everything by public transport in time – we drive to the extensive 11th Municipio (the name given to the neighbourhoods in Rome). Two guided tours await us here, as two groups have established themselves over the years and are organising the garden separately (the area has been halved). Here I notice for the first time the neighbouring bamboo cultivation (a special variety), which I then discover again and again in almost every garden. The harvested bamboo poles are used as supports for growing vegetables. Both gardens each consist of 60 private gardens with a shared outdoor kitchen and tool shed, experimental glasshouse and other communal facilities. 100 € is paid per garden unit and 20 € for guest helpers.
In Garden 1, we are familiarised with the old grain varieties project, which involves both scientists and schools as driving forces.
An elderly gentleman, Franco, then explains his favourite project to us. Holes are cut in an old recycled water pipe for lettuce plants, for example, which are watered sparingly using a sophisticated irrigation system to ensure effective growth. Afterwards, we are spoilt with delicious bread and drinks.
ORTI SOCIALIARVALIA Municipio XI
In Garden 2, we are mainly greeted by very cheerful, friendly pensioners. This fact also applies to all the gardens we visit. It is easier for elderly people to take the time to grow vegetables. (Let’s hope that in the future people in employment, children and young people will also have time for this vital activity).
We are first provided with coffee. After being shown lots of interesting tips on growing vegetables directly in the various beds, we round off the visit with a bottle of wine. A pleasantly communicative, cosy and refreshing afternoon.
Day 3, Wednesday: 24.09.24
FAO
08:00 Morning
This time, the metro takes us to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations). It takes a while for all our passports to be unpacked, our bags checked and for us to get to the fantastic guided tour of the organisation. Now we know that the FAO was founded by David Lubin from Poland, born in 1849, who started the organisation with his extensive library (now the David Lubin Memorial Library).
At the end, we find ourselves at one of the most beautiful panoramic terraces in Rome with its many raised beds full of vegetables and herbs. We also meet Cecilia Marocchino, Urban Food Agenda Coodinator at the FAO, with ten years of professional experience in urban research and planning. She is available to answer our questions.
ORTI URBANI MONTE CIOCCI Municipio XIX
Afternoon
There are exact opening hours here. Unlike the community gardens in Vienna, all the gardens here in Rome are actually fenced in! This garden on the hill (with a wonderful view of St Peter’s Basilica) is exceptionally located in the north of Rome; most community gardens are located in the south and west of the city, as large parts of the north are covered in concrete and it is also generally a more expensive area.
So the regular opening hours place great emphasis on the social component of the garden. There are regular weekly and daily meetings of local residents, e.g. groups of pensioners, children and other associations and groups, to socialise and gain experience with cultivation and nature in general, such as bees, birds, butterflies, insects, medicinal herbs, fruit trees…
OUC VIADELLACONSOLATA MunicipioXII
Later in the afternoon, we take the bus back down to the valley and visit the gardens in the 12th district, which are lined with laurel hedges. We are invited by two hard-working gardeners to enjoy delicious meat loaves in bread, bruschetta and roman wine in a specially set up outdoor barbecue area.
Here, too, there are two areas, one of which is looked after by the employed gardeners and the other which is more open to experimentation.
Day 4, Thursday: 26.09.24
Ministry of the Environment
First thing in the morning, we walk to the nearby Ministry of the Environment. Giammarco Palmieri, presidente della commissione capitolina ambiente/ city councillor and president of the environmental commission and the two women from the ufficio orti urbani di Roma Capitale/ the Urban Gardens Office of Roma Capitale Paola Marzi and Annamaria Appenini are waiting for us there. A long conversation takes place. For example, I learned that in Rome many, even most urban gardens are created illegally and then, after long negotiations, lead to variable contracts that are satisfactory for both sides.
OUC PARCO ORT9 Municipio IX
An unusually large number of additional buildings await us in this area, all of which are somewhat surprising.
A shower and toilet made mainly of plastic. A wooden house that serves as an office and kitchen, with integrated video surveillance and a device that can be used to operate the irrigation system via an app, even when on holiday. The house is also available to students as a work office for a fee. There are also small ‘bubble’ bungalows for children and teaching staff as research workplaces. A prototype for a raised bed that offers the possibility of gardening while seated in a wheelchair. A lot of plastic material has also been used here. The whole area can be hired by outsiders. Our two guides, who work here and help manage the area, proudly present all the acquisitions.
O.U.C. Valle dell’Aniene (Rome Municipality IV)
Afternoon
This area not only has two large areas for gardens, but is also a nature reserve used for tourist purposes with a beautiful stone house with an integrated office. Here, too, we are informed of interesting facts by a friendly official from the Ministry of the Environment who has been specially invited.
In the smaller part of the garden, I see for the first time a patch that is mulched with straw and hay. The operator is much younger than the others, and he tells us that he is ridiculed by them for the way he works.
O.U.C Parco di Aguzzano (Rome Municipality IV)
Almost at sunset, we reach a garden with a special experiment. Barbara, together with other interested people, is studying the Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka, who developed a unique method of ‘do nothing’ agriculture in the 1980s. Fukuoka’s four principles: no ploughing, no fertilising, no weeding, no pesticides.
Here we are each given a new gardening tool as a memento. We are all surprisingly happy. (How much people look forward to presents!) And at home I finally take this book, (photo), which has probably been waiting for about 30 years on my bookshelf. We round off the day with wine, bread and crisps.
Day 5, Friday: 27.09.24
O.U. adottati coop. Garibaldi (Rome Municipality VIII)
Now back on the bus early in the morning to the 8th district. here the project is integrated into a school. a real aeroplane as working material amazes me before we arrive at the huge site.
Here in this registered social co-operative, the welcome is even warmer and more loving. Full of respect for each other, the autistic people and social workers work together in the garden, catering workshop, carpentry, bakery, restaurant, bar and agriturismo (a new idea: guest rooms that allow autistic people to go on holiday). The centre offers a safe, healing space for disadvantaged members of society for social rehabilitation.
We are served an excellent four-course meal from the restaurant. As a thank you, there is a short performance by two dancers from Barranquilla.
O.U.C. della Gru (Rome Municipality VI)
Afternoon
We reach the smallest garden we come across after a very long journey in our minibus through the vineyards of Rome.
An attempt was made here to work together with neighbouring schools and kindergartens. The children, aged between 3 and 7, helped with the gardening work and also with painting this beautiful garden fence made from recycled pallets. However, this is not without its challenges. Right now, they only come to visit and harvest the ripe vegetables to cook and eat together in the school kitchen.
O.U.C.Tor Sapienza (Rome Municipality V)
Work has been going on here since 2012. The neighbouring residents also benefit here. The focus is not only on schools, which have the opportunity to learn how to grow vegetables and medicinal herbs. Socially disadvantaged people, such as migrants, the unemployed, alcoholics, pensioners and many more, also find support. The highly frequented, beautiful neighbouring park with leisure facilities draws the attention of other sections of the population to this project.
Day 6, Saturday: 28.09.24
City tour
Today we have the opportunity to visit the tourist sights of Rome as a group, starting with traditional Roman food in the crowded city centre.
Evening:
For the final event of this project, we are invited back to Orto 9 for the ORTOBEER FEST. Larger events open to the public often take place here (the venue can also be hired for birthday parties, for example). You can get delicious food and drink for a fee. There are bands, DJs and a dance floor for dancing.
Some garden users have taken their own food with them, so they can also take part in the party without buying food.
Day 7, Sunday: 29.09.24
Ending
To say goodbye to the project, to Rome, to Ewa (my ‘support’ in terms of language barriers and in general), after our only visit to a museum (the MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, the building was designed by architect Zaha Hadid), we both take a walk along the Tiber promenade in glorious weather. The Tiber with its footpaths is currently being extended and will form an important part of the future cycle paths in the Roman city centre.
