The citizens of Roma Capitale know the historic centre is the area within the Aurelian Walls.
The Walls are named after the Emperor Aurelian, who had them built between 270 and 275 AC to defend Rome from barbarian incursions.
About 19 km long, the Walls are delimited:
• to the North, by Porta Flaminia;
• to the South, by Porta Ardeatina and Porta San Giovanni;
• to the West, by Porta San Pancrazio;
• to the East, by Porta Pia.
The space enclosed by the Aurelian Walls represents not only a delimitation of the territory that identifies the oldest part of the city, but also the bogeyman of motorists and various patrons who, as soon as they feel invited to attend an event in the centre, begin to visualise, in a cold sweat, the bogeyman of the restricted traffic zone.
Over the last 50 years, the concept of the historic centre, traditionally understood, has been joined by a more modern vision of Rome's historic soul: no longer 'the historic centre of Rome' but the Historic City.
Thus, if originally the protection of the territory followed the criterion of zoning (protection follows the area), today account is taken of the urban fabric scattered in the various areas of the city deemed worthy of protection regardless of the area in which they fall.
The choice is to protect the territory of the Capital in its entirety, according to the specific needs of the urban fabric traceable to the historical-artistic-archaeological tradition of the city.
Only through an intelligent and measured transformation of the territory is it possible to guarantee the coexistence of antiquity and modernity.
That's why the Historic City.
The lay-out of the territory of the municipality of Rome is regulated by the GRP (General Regulatory Plan), approved by the City Council with Resolution no. 18 of 12 February 2008, in force since its publication in the Regione Lazio Official Bulletin on 14 March 2008.
Currently, the GRP provides for three types of interventions on the territory as follows:
a) the fabrics of the Historic City;
b) the urban fabrics other than the Historic City;
c) urban areas of strategic interest.
Let us see, in detail, what these are.
THE FABRICS OF THE HISTORICAL CITY
Fabrics of the Historic City" are defined as "the blocks or parts of blocks belonging to it constituted by the aggregation of buildings, with the relative open spaces of pertinence and the exclusion of roadways, referable to substantially homogeneous rules of layout, subdivision of the ground, arrangement and relationship with the routes, as well as prevailing typological, formal, constructive and functional characterisation. These fabrics include serial buildings and buildings with a special building typology expressing the same rules as the fabric to which they belong', (Article 25, Technical Implementation Rules of the GRP of the Municipality of Rome).
The mentioned fabrics are, therefore, identified and classified by homogeneous characteristics in relation to the historical period in which they originated:
T1: Fabrics of medieval origin;
T2: Renaissance and modern pre-unification expansion fabrics;
T3: Nineteenth- and twentieth-century urban restructuring areas;
T4: Nineteenth-twentieth-century expansion blocks;
T5: Nineteenth- and twentieth-century expansion punctiform building plots;
T6: Tissues of nineteenth-century expansion with continuous frontage;
T7: Tissues of 20th-century expansion with punctiform building lots;
T8: 20th-century expansion areas with modern, unified layouts;
T9: Isolated buildings;
T10: Isolated historic cores.
The fabrics of the Historic City are shown on the topographical map in elaboration 2. "Systems and Rules", scale 1:5,000.
For the development of commercial activities within the Historic City fabrics, the Municipality has dictated very specific rules in order to preserve urban decorum and favour the development of a balanced productive fabric.
We speak, in this sense, of protected activities.
URBAN FABRICS OTHER THAN THE HISTORIC CITY
The fabrics other than the Historic City are those that constitute the Consolidated City, the City to be Renovated, and the City of Transformation.
These territories are represented in the elaboration 3. "Systems and Rules", scale 1:10,000.
The Consolidated City has been defined by the urban planning instrument dating back largely to the GRP of 1931.
The fabrics of the Consolidated City are identified and regulated by Article 45 of the Technical Implementation Rules.
They are homogeneous portions of territory with a twentieth-century layout:
T1-Tissues of twentieth-century expansion with a defined typology and medium settlement density;
T2-Tissues of twentieth-century expansion with a defined typology and high settlement density;
T3-Tissues of twentieth-century expansion with free typology.
The City to be Renovated is identified by Article 53 of the Technical Implementation Rules.
It refers to a set of built and unbuilt blocks or lots, excluding roadways:
a) Predominantly residential fabrics;
b) Tissues predominantly for activities.
The City of Transformation includes the Areas of Ordinary Transformation and the Areas with a defined detailed definition, i.e. areas of the urbs in which executive urban planning instruments have been approved (or are in the process of being approved).
All the archaeological and monumental elements, bound and unbound, ancient and modern, visible in the fabric of the contemporary city have been reported in the Quality Map, a management elaboration of the GRP of the city consisting of 34 sheets at a scale of 1:10,000 (Elaborate G1) and the Guide to the Quality of Interventions (Elaborate G2).
URBAN AREAS OF STRATEGIC INTEREST
Urban Areas of Strategic Interest denote urban areas considered decisive for the territorial transformation of the City.
There are currently five Strategic Planning Scopes:
1. Tiber;
2. Walls;
3. Monumental Archaeological Park;
4. Foro Italico-Eur;
5. Railway Belt.
These areas are particularly valuable as they represent a bridge between the present and the past.
Their valorization is essential to weave a thread between the ancient city and the modern city seamlessly.
