Biodiversity and Care: The new gardens of Santa Maria della Pietà, Rome | Landscape Architecture Thesis

Site Context

The enclosures mentioned are significant for having a large amount of green space covered by them. A total of 164 hectares are added to the 46,000 hectares of natural areas and agricultural parks that already exist. The so-called therapeutic enclosures boast an area of 113 hectares of green spaces, while universities and research institutes offer 47 and the ministries contribute 4.

The enclosures present a significant opportunity for focused interventions aimed at improving biodiversity, facilitating climate change adaptation, and enhancing their social, cultural, and economic significance due to their noteworthy greenery. They serve as places that promote equality, maintain health and well-being, and are incredibly valuable to the community.

Final Outcome

The core principle of the master plan is that mental health issues shouldn’t be completely ignored. Talking about this subject doesn’t require you to cut yourself off from protection; instead, we need to be open enough to create spaces where everyone—sick or not—can come together and gain from the meeting. Thus, as an ideal outdoor extension of the activities occurring inside the pavilions, the Landscape Architecture project seeks to reopen closed entrances, create new and sustainable urban connections, improve the park’s circuit system, and implement projects within the imagined islands. This project is in line with an existing master plan created for the PNRR in 2022. The idea that was deemed necessary was to create a pedestrian path that connects the CoBraGor and the Santa Maria della Pietà in a more agile manner by allowing one to cross the gorge and reach the park. 

The in-depth design study concerns three gardens: the library garden, the museum garden and the school laboratory garden.

The concept of the library garden emerges through the design of different flowerbeds, each of which can be used to create a unique space with a variety of purposes. Thus, several areas start to emerge: large meeting spaces that can accommodate a variety of events; spaces that are perfect for reading collections; and targeted aggregation spaces that encourage meetings and socialising.

Small garden spaces where nature and man converge harmoniously, with seats seamlessly integrated into the lush vegetation, offering tranquil oases that invite peaceful mental relaxation.

Aggregation spaces, seamlessly integrated with the surrounding pathways, foster spontaneous meetings and encourage a sense of sociality through open, fluid design.

Semicircular spaces, larger than the previous ones, are designed not only to foster a social atmosphere but also to accommodate small events.

The museum garden is conceived as a natural extension of the museum itinerary that develops inside the pavilion. There are two routes that animate this island. The first, more extended, crosses flat exhibition spaces, created with the use of perennial herbaceous plants of various sizes. Arriving in the area behind the pavilion, it heads along a mini terrace, accompanied below by a second path. The vegetation along the small escarpment fills the curves of both paths, while maintaining a linearity character.

Exhibition spaces are framed by delicate corten profiles, which encase the surrounding vegetation, transforming these areas into contemplative places. The aim is to make visitors reflect on the suffering experienced before the Basaglia law of 1978.

Exhibition spaces along the internal route are designed similarly to the previous ones, but feature perennial herbaceous plants that thrive in sunlit environments, reflecting a harmonious blend of nature and sunlight.

Terraced gardens unfold along two paths at varying altitudes, lined with grass-dominant vegetation systems, forming meeting spaces that encourage both conversation and natural convection.

The garden of the school laboratory is divided into two parts. The first is in direct contact with the pavilion, the second is in the front. Some have been created adjacent to the pavilion linear systems of herbaceous perennial plants that give life to so-called “walks around the pavilion”. On the island in front of the pavilion is an educational path that aims to explain the importance of pollinators, such as bees, bumblebees, wasps, dipterans and butterflies, through the use of their favorite plants and a small one educational garden.

The labyrinth invites children into circular spaces defined by corten profiles and integrated seating, where education blends with observation, allowing them to play, learn, and engage their senses in a dynamic environment.

The spaces for reworking, education, and play are created through small earth movements that form natural, circular-shaped stands, transforming these areas into multifunctional spaces par excellence.

The linear gardens seamlessly connect with the pavilion, while the island, intersected by the sports route, offers users a serene spot to pause and unwind. The journey ends inside the re-elaboration spaces, achieved through small earth movements that give life to these multifunctional spaces.

Conclusion: The project envisions an open, inclusive park that blends ecological sustainability with social interaction. Inspired by historical therapeutic spaces, it creates areas for gathering, education, and reflection, promoting mental well-being and biodiversity. This revitalized park strengthens both community ties and the local environment, adapting to contemporary urban and ecological needs.

[This Academic Project has been published with text submitted by the student]