CROMA – Claudia Romagnoli
The illustrated map of the Centocelle neighborhood is a mural painting that represents the neighborhood’s most emblematic places through symbolic images. Thanks to CROMA’s artistic vision, the streets, buildings, and historic places of the Centocelle neighborhood evoke the values and stories that have helped shape the area. The work thus becomes not only a map of the neighborhood, but a guide for residents and visitors alike. Those who enter the Centocelle neighborhood can through the map experience the community experiences, layered over time and urban space, through the representation of buildings, values and activities that take place in the neighborhood every day. The result is the enhancement of sociality and cultural ferment in this important southeast quadrant of the Capital.
The work is part of a route composed of two additional maps, one representing the Torre Spaccata neighborhood and the other the Alessandrino neighborhood. The aim of the route is to recreate a shared community identity that can go beyond administrative boundaries and enhance common elements and stories, as well as the symbolic places of the three neighborhoods. The works were carried out as part of the European Horizon 2020 – Open Heritage project and inaugurated during the Living Memory Exhibition event on 9/25/2021.
The work is part of a broader process of enhancing the cultural heritage of suburbs geared toward the capacitation of local communities and the development of a plurality of cultural and community services. The realization of the work thus aspires to bring out not only the historical-cultural wealth of the district, but also its cultural, social and human heritage.
The path was developed thanks to the support and contribution of Luiss and LabGov.city, which contributed through the Co-Roma project to the realization of the work and the support of local actors in related activities.
In addition, the works have a symbolic value in promoting a new vision of the district, aspiring to activate a virtuous circle that can lead to a sustainable economic, social and environmental development of the neighborhoods starting from the promotion of cultural heritage and local creativity. This, in fact, is the main objective of the neighborhood cooperative CooperACTiva one of the first community cooperatives born in an urban context such as Rome. CooperACTiva is committed to promoting a collaborative vision of the neighborhood in which different actors can work together for the development of the area. To this end, the cooperative stimulates processes in which the value generated is reinvested to enhance the territory itself through the improvement of social, technological and environmental infrastructure.
CooperACTiva’s activities are intertwined with the efforts of a multiplicity of local actors, among them Fusolab, aDNA, and the Community for the Centocelle Public Park, and thanks in part to Di Donato’s technical support, they contribute to the conduct of the activities as well as to the realization of the works and the path in a sustainable way.
