Urban Centrality of Acilia Madonnetta, Rome

The urban centrality of Acilia Madonnetta, planned by the New Regulatory Plan for Rome, is located in the southwest quadrant of the city, between the EUR and Ostia, closed off to the north of the area by the flood zone of the Tiber, which is crossed to the north by the directive axis Via del Mare – Via Ostiense – Rome – Ostia Lido railroad and to the south by Via Cristoforo Colombo. The idea of rearming the territory with a series of urban poles that concentrate the functions of excellence is the answer that the local government developed to contrast the residential monofunctionality of Rome’s outskirts. The urban project interests a vast free area of 14,368,918 square feet located in the center of the extended settlement created by Acilia, Axa, Casal Palocco-Infernetto, but well-defined at its outer limits by a vast green area, including the natural reserves of the Tiber and Castelvetro to the north and south respectively. To the east is a system of open green spaces that reach Acilia-Dragona and to the west, the ancient Stagno Ostiense’s extensive area of respect. Today, Acilia is essentially residential, with a limited presence of services and productive activities, with a weak public transportation system, and a structure of viability that requires significant improvement. With respect to the building fragmentation and the absence of public space that today connote this territorial context, the project introduces a principle of compactness of urban space, based on a network of lines with origins that lie in two orthogonal axes, which coincide with a double row of preexisting pines that cross the area from north to south, and with an ancient east-west running canal that has been reactivated and widened. The central north-south axis is made up of a double roadway, and a median system of commercial buildings with porticoes on the first floor and offices on the second floor. On the roof of this building is planned a light transportation system connecting the new station planned at the intersection with Via del Mare-Ostiense to the north and Cristoforo Colombo to the south of the urban center. On a larger scale, such a public transportation system is functional for connecting the new settlement and the neighborhoods that are on its outskirts to the Fiumicino airport and Rome’s Fiera (Exposition Center). A network of bicycle paths integrates the system of connections of the new urban center with the surroundings, and particularly with the ecological east-west corridor planned by the new Master Plan, that penetrates the original nucleus of Acilia. The site of a Roman aqueduct diagonally crosses the center: the rests of the ancient building complex are visible thanks to the excavation from a large archeological dig that acts like a green practicable corridor with historic and landscape value, that constitutes the great exception in the settlement system. The presence of the aqueduct connotes the project for Acilia Madonnetta’s central role as a new urban foundation, according to an ideal line of continuity with ancient tradition. This new special condition of identity is reflected in the recognizability of the new urban center, whose identity is based on a long-term principle. The archeological theme directs the planning choices even in the definition of the building’s morphology, which is designed as a kind of great low relief that emphasizes the idea of the excavation and belonging to the site. The heights of the buildings are generally 49 feet, except for five residential towers that are 131 feet, placed in pairs on the sides of the central axis, making the position stand out from afar. The green area, which represents more than one third of the total surface of the new center consists of a green belt cut through by bicycle and foot paths that is outfitted with spaces for collective activities related to leisure time. It imbues the new settlement and provides ample green spaces equipped for sports. A large open space used as a city park completes the system. Within it, the small rises on the eastern border are valorized as is the evidence of the major land recuperation operation that interested this part of the Agro Romano. The perpendicular lattice conformation of the urban project offers a high level of flexibility for locating the different functions, without altering the identity of the settlement. The functions proposed for a total gross surface area of 3,778,133 square feet —to which may be added around 861,113 square feet of additional public function area—meet two primary requirements: provide the area of Acilia, intended for essential collective purposes, and offer valuable, rare functions that qualify the entire surrounding territory.