The Angelo Galafati Garden is a project where all climate adaptation goals for urban spaces were applied. The intervention, inaugurated on September 25, 2024, was built in one of the most densely populated and urbanized areas of the city and where the highest temperatures are found during heat waves. The space is located in front of the Enrico Toti Elementary School and near the Pigneto station of the Metro Line C.
The main goal of the redevelopment was to reduce the sealed areas and redefine the spaces in order to assign new functions to the garden:
- ecological, through the creation of an urban forest;
- recreation, through a new play and sports area;
- social, through street furniture placed in a way that promotes accessibility and sociability.
The space had been used as a construction site for the construction of the subway, and in 2023 it passed into the hands of Municipio V, which promoted a 4-month participatory process for the redevelopment of the area, which saw the participation of multiple territorial associations, including the parents’ committee of the neighboring school. The new Angelo Galafati garden, reimagined as a neighborhood green-square, was designed and redeveloped by the Green and Environmental Management Area of City Hall V.
In order to promote biodiversity, 191 plant essences in 42 different species were planted, broken down as follows: 53 trees (22 different species), 138 shrubs (20 different species) of Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean scrub.
The garden is equipped with an underground irrigation system with exuding pipe, thus with point irrigation on each plant to reduce waste. The water used comes from a well that had been drilled for Metro C excavations and is being monitored by Ispra under an agreement with Roma Capitale.
The project aimed to de-impermeabilize the area, with technical limitations related to the presence of the subway tunnel in part of the garden, but succeeding in freeing the soil and recharging the water table in a space of more than 500 square meters, with 150 cubic meters of concrete removed, where trees and shrubs were planted in addition to 230 cubic meters of soil. Pedestrian paths in the garden were made with permeable, light-colored paving to reduce temperatures during heat waves.
In terms of the materials used, the garden design focused on circularity in the use of resources. Many of the furnishings come from recycling and reuse of materials, the garden’s table-benches are made of recycled plastic, and the non-trauma flooring in the play area comes from old tires. There was a very large pergola in the garden that was no longer safe and for that reason dismantled. Reclaimed wood was used for the garden’s finishing touches, for the seating of three embankments housing trees, and for the construction of some benches.
