3RD PLACE – ROME CITYVISION COMPETITION

Valentina Andriulli + Antonia De Angelis

Rome: a love story

In a bar, two old friends (the Foreigner and the Local) meet up, and they start an interesting conversation…

The Foreigner: Rome, the eternal city…

The Local: Rome the eternal city ? The city as you imagine it, my friend, does not exist anymore

The Foreigner: Rome disappeared? Impossible…

Rome is the eternal city, eternally mirror of itself, prisoner and loyal slave serving its history.

The city is delighted by its state of prisoner, she indulges it.

And the people around the world love her prisoner soul.

The Local: Ah ,ah … now Rome has changed…she’s free and has a new rebel soul

The Foreigner: And who did release it? Her jailer, the History, has always been too strong to get rid of!

The Local: Her old lover, denied and neglected.

It has been a story of love and hate…at the beginning they were bind, depending each other; the water was sustaining the city. But then, She locked her hearth and throw out the key into the river…

The Foreigner: The Tiber? The Tiber war her lover?

The Local: Yes but she left him.

The Foreigner: And now…where is it?

The Local: He has always been with her, He never left her.

The Foreigner: And…where was he hidden?

The Local: This is amazing! He wasn’t hidden anywhere, but nobody cared about him.

The Foreigner: And what happened?

The Local: After years of silence, the Tiber, fed up of being ignored, decided to get back his reign and his queen!

The Foreigner: And then they went away?

The Local: No! After freeing her, they took their revenge.

They eliminated the tyranny of Archeology and History and took over the old city.

And then they made love : the water and the city, like old times…

Decayed and forgotten, the Tiber stood watching the slow decadence of his reign, converted to the belief of History and Archeology.

The new Gods promised to the city a future of greatness, model for the rest of the world and an eternal life.

But soon the promise turned out to be fake; every change was submitted to the Judgment of History and every freedom of expression was denied.

The city became slave of its past, without any hope for the future.

The Tiber couldn’t bear the sight of his beloved prisoner.

He prepared his revenge and did it: the water flooded into the city, took over the Archeology and confused the History!

A revolution upset Rome, and for the citizens it became an opportunity and a hope of change.

Only then, they realized the injury suffered and the features of their former tormentors, old heap of bones, the living dead (perhaps mindful of powerful bodies now decomposed).

And from the ruins of ruins they decided to rebuild the city.

A new Rome born again on the carcasses of its tyrants, and show off to the world proud and free from chains.

No areas of the old city was saved; the water overwhelmed everything, careless of the old ruins.

The History, now submerged, wasn’t anymore a constraint to the development and modernization of the city. In the new Rome the old and modern cohabit in harmony with what already exist, and the water become source of life and energy

A new way of life imposes on citizens; they take back the river, the only natural element survived to the old empire, who is becoming the new foundation of the city.

The river enters into the city, breaks the banks and governs citizen life. The water is used for everything: for transportation, as a source of energy, as a tool for entertainment.

The words traffic jam, confusion, stress and pollution will never be pronounced again; the Time is now beaten by the Nature, not anymore by the History.

The Tiber gave freedom to Rome and finally their love story can start again. Rome is an endless story of love and hate.