MY APPIA.
LABORATORY OF POSSIBLE WORLDS IN OPEN WOUNDS
"Along its entire length, and for over a kilometer on both sides, the Appian Way was a single monument should have been preserved intact because of its history and legends, its ruins and its trees, the countryside and landscapes, the views, the solitude, the silence, the light, its dawns and sunsets... it should have been saved because for centuries talented men the world over had loved it, described it, painted it, and sung of it, transforming it into a fantastical reality, a spiritual moment, and creating a work of art from a work of art: The Appian way was untouchable, like the Acropolis in Athens"
A. Cederna, The Gangsters dell'Appia, Il Mondo September 8, 1953.
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"Along its entire length, and for over a kilometer on both sides, the Appian Way was a single monument should have been preserved intact because of its history and legends, its ruins and its trees, the countryside and landscapes, the views, the solitude, the silence, the light, its dawns and sunsets... it should have been saved because for centuries talented men the world over had loved it, described it, painted it, and sung of it, transforming it into a fantastical reality, a spiritual moment, and creating a work of art from a work of art: The Appian way was untouchable, like the Acropolis in Athens"
A. Cederna, The Gangsters dell'Appia, Il Mondo September 8, 1953.
This exhibition presents the Appia's recent history.
Protecting the most important of Roman public roads, built in 312 BC, has been complicated and an adequate solution for safeguarding the Appia's unique attributes has not yet been found; many monuments are still on private property.
The area that hosts it was purchased in 2002 by the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Rome to increase the public assets on the Appia and raise awareness of these ancient sites.
It has become a workshop for many activities: a cultural meeting point, a place to stop to visit the road and its monuments, and it houses the Antonio Cederna Archive and the computer system for the Appia area.
The photographs shown are only a fraction of the rich collection on the Appia and they relate to several periods: Late 800s - early 900s; the years between 1950 and 1970, and today.
They are views taken by people who have frequented, and still frequent, the Appia, for the most with a sharp eye for reasons of studies, research and journalism.
During this time the landscape around the Appia has changed radically, sometimes for the better, usually for the worse, as is evident in some photos, although incomplete. Some of the episodes illustrated and the texts tell the main phases of this story.
While going about our daily lives we never cease to believe in the importance of a project for the Appia which on one hand confirms its value and reinstates legality, and on the other can enable the public to enjoy its combination of history, archaeology, landscapes and nature.
The part that has been made public has contributed to knowledge of ancient history and improved methods of research, restoration and valorization. The part that is private property has too often undergone changes in the exclusive interests of individuals that have been more or less damaging, in violation of rules aimed at enforcing respect for the assets pertaining to the territory of the Appian Way.
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Historic photographs of the Appian Way
In the years between the end of the 800s and the first decades of the 900s the Appia attracted renewed attention of scholars, archaeologists and photographers, especially British who, in the wake of artists in the late XVIII century. . .In the years between the end of the 800s and the first decades of the 900s the Appia attracted renewed attention of scholars, archaeologists and photographers, especially British who, in the wake of artists in the late XVIII century, especially Carlo Labruzzi, depicted monuments and landscapes through the medium of photography. They were John Henry Parker (1806 -1884), Esther Boise Van Deman (1862 - 1937), James Anderson (1813 -1877) and his son Domenico (1854 - 1938), Thomas Ashby (1874 - 1931) and others, such as the Bulwer sisters.
Ashby, who took photographs of the stretch of the Appia that precedes the Roman part of the road, was overcome by an "elusive feeling" due to the charm of the landscapes. He was not interested in the archaeological aspect alone; he felt that changes were imminent and that Rome's new role as the capital of Italy would alter those landscapes.