  What's New! Detailed Sitemap All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it. Text edited by Rosamie Moore. Page revised in June 2011. |  Days of Peace (how to spend a peaceful day in Rome)  of Rome(Harlequin - Germany) Many cities in the world have rose gardens which are celebrated for their design and for the number of
varieties they exhibit, but the Municipal Rose Garden of Rome (Roseto Comunale di Roma) enjoys a location on the northern side of the Aventine,
which makes up for its inferior interest from a strictly horticultural viewpoint (see a page on nearby S. Prisca to see a map of the area).
The entrance to the rose garden is presided over by a gigantic monument to Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72) which was unveiled in 1949 at the centenary of the short-lived Roman Republic. The bronze statue was cast by Ettore Ferrari in 1929, the same year the "Questione Romana", the quarrel between the Italian State and the Holy See (caused by the 1870 Italian conquest of Rome) was settled and a large monument to Mazzini, a very determined opposer of the Papal State, could have caused undesired complaints from the Vatican. In 1949 Italy was no longer a kingdom, but a very young republic and Mazzini, who had envisaged for Italy a republican future, became a sort of father of the nation and this led to the decision of erecting such a large monument. Giuseppe Mazzini during most of his life was regarded as a dangerous conspirator, an instigator of rebellions and acts of terrorism (in 1858, Felice Orsini, a former follower of Mazzini, made an attempt on the life of the French Emperor Napoleon III by throwing several bombs at the Opéra entrance, killing 8 people and wounding more than 150). Even after the completion of Italian Unification Mazzini, who had spent many years in exile in France, Switzerland and England, had to live in Italy under a false name and was regarded as a criminal by the police. His statue now enjoys the view over the Circus Maximus and the Palatine.
The Rose Garden was designed in the 1930s on the site of a XVIIth century Jewish Cemetery and the cypresses which border its western side are those which provided shadow to the old tombs. Its upper part borders on one of the many monasteries existing on the Aventine, from which it is divided by Clivo dei Publici, one of the silent streets of Rome.
The rose garden is split into two sections: the upper one shows the permanent collection of varieties of roses, grouped on a chronological basis.
The lower section of the garden houses the varieties taking part in Premio Roma, an annual contest among international floriculturists.
A small section of the garden is reserved for the roses of the Ancient World: Gallica means from France; Alba is the Latin adjective for white; Damascena means from Damascus.
The Romans found that their fragrance had inebriating properties. At the end of a lavish
banquet, when the guests were already excited by the effects of food and wine, the perfect host arranged for cascades of rose petals to fall from the ceiling. Notwithstanding its very pagan character, this tradition was not lost with the fall of the
Roman Empire: in some of the most sumptuous ceremonies, rose petals fell on the Pope.
In the early XIXth century breeding of new varieties of roses led to crossings between Asian and Western roses; in some cases this caused unexpected consequences. Rosa Bracteata was introduced in Europe by George Mc Cartney, British Ambassador to China in 1793; this species was introduced into some of the southern United States where it has become invasive by forming dense thickets and dominates habitats resulting in the reduction of foraging capacity for wildlife. It displaces native species.
The names given to some varieties remind of almost forgotten celebrities: for much of the 1950s papers which specialize in gossip and love stories thought they had discovered a gold mine in reporting all aspects of the unlucky life of Princess Margaret: she could not marry a RAF WWII hero because he was a divorced man and her case became a symbol of denied love. Bettina is the name given by designer Pierre Balmain to Simone Micheline Bodin, a mannequin for whom Hubert de Givenchy designed a very successful kind of blouse. She was the girlfriend (although in the 1950s maybe this word would not have been used) of Prince Aly Khan, a very wealthy and glamorous man. They were one of the best known and elegant couples of the jet set.
In 1997 a New Zealand breeder dedicated this rose to another unlucky princess: Diana, Princess of Wales, who in that same year died in a car crash in Paris. She was referred to as the People's Princess in the tribute to her by PM Tony Blair.
Other varieties are linked to historical events. In particular Peace is the name given to a new variety developed immediately before WWII by a French floriculturist: he sent some specimens to correspondents he had in Europe and in the States. When after the war they could write to each other again, they decided to call this now very popular variety with the name of the event they had looked forward to for so many years: Peace.
Italy does not have a leading role in the development of new varieties: the large majority of the varieties shown in the rose garden come from France, Germany, Great Britain and the U.S.A. The image above shows one of the few exceptions, a small rambling rose developed in Italy by Maresa del Bufalo.
Some varieties are named after literary characters: Porthos and Pinocchio clearly remind of their literary source; Albertine at first seems just the name of the wife or the daughter of the floriculturist who developed this variety: but on second thought one suspects that this rose which is not red and is not pink was most likely named after Albertine, the elusive protagonist of Proust's Recherche.
The image used as a background for this page shows the bell tower of S. Maria in Cosmedin seen from the rose garden. A riddle by Symphosius, a Latin poet of the IVth or the Vth century AD
Other Days of Peace pages: At the Flea Market At the Beach A Sunny Day in Villa Borghese Christmas in Rome Voicing Your Views and feeling better! Eating Outdoors Celebrating the Foundation of Rome Watching the Parade The procession of La Madonna de Noantri Running the Marathon Attending 2007 July Events Rome's Sleepless Night Finding Solace at the Protestant Cemetery Attending Winter Ceremonies Jogging at Valle delle Camene Sailing on the River to see the Bridges of Roma An October Outing to Marino Attending a Funeral ...and enjoying it! A Special Spring Weekend Embassy-hunting in Parioli Celebrating Eritrean Michaelmas in Rome Visiting Rome at Dawn Visiting Rome in the Moonlight Visiting Rome on a Hop-on-Hop-off Bus Visiting Multi-ethnic Rome Baroque Fireworks Playing in the Snow at the Janiculum Watching the Pride Parade Visiting the Movie Sets at Cinecittŕ Reading Memoirs of Hadrian at Villa Adriana |
