PIAZZA CAVOUR IN ANCONA (ITALY): A SUSTAINABLE EXAMPLE OF HISTORIC URBAN LANDSCAPE

This article aims at describing the renovation project of one of the most famous squares of Ancona (Italy): Piazza Cavour. The project tries to protect, enhance and promote the plant heritage, maintaining stylistic and formal characteristics of the design of the square-garden which was realized between the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century. At the same time, the project intends to reduce management and maintenance burdens of the greenery concerning the mid and long run: such aspect, formerly considered as insignificant, is essential nowadays. The project follows the design of the architect Cirilli of 1920, while introducing new elements that do not modify the typological characteristics of the square in order to assure environmental, economic and social sustainability of the whole ensemble. Therefore, the project aims at promoting and protecting the existent plant variety and reasonably preserving the general structure of the square. However, at the same time, the square will be remodeled so that the green area will be incremented through the widening of flowerbeds and the enhancement of the tree and shrub components, without distorting the current visual perception of the square. The objective has been achieved by suggesting various plants that can be managed through financial resources currently available while meeting the needs of modern living. In fact, in the first stage the recommended plants met the needs of high aesthetic quality and at the same time low management and maintenance costs, in order to avoid an economic pressure upon the municipal budget. The plants selected for the project are easy manageable, slowly growing, rustic, and drought resistant. These are the salient features that, together with the correct integration to the urban scene, allowed us to realize a proper square, well organized, functional in matters of management and maintenance and socially valuable. Innovation and maintenance of historical memory are also aggregated in order to meet the needs and expectations of inhabitants, which have been involved in the planning by contemplating the participation of a heterogeneous group of experts: agronomists, architects, engineers, and surveyors. This project is widely attended and shared, which combines the old and the new in order to meet new needs of both, inhabitants and environment.