SU | menu | Battle of the Pincio

	BATTLE OF THE PINCIO September 2008 Curated by Dr. Allan Ceen On Saturday, 6 Sep. 2008 la Repubblica printed a letter by the current Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno. It was headlined “Why I don’t want to build that parking lot on the Pincio” (Perchè non voglio fare quel parcheggio al Pincio). In it he sums up some of the arguments against building a subterranean seven-story parking garage in the Pincian hill, arguments which had already been made by a number of serious professionals. Pincian hill, which is situated inside the walls. Alemanno’s conclusion:
	Therefore in our opinion the political choice should undoubtedly go toward abandoning the Pincio project and expanding the already existing Galoppatoio parking garage…		Quindi la scelta politica dovrebbe a nostro avviso andare sicuramente verso l’abbandono del progetto del progetto del Pincio e l’ampliamento del parcheggio già esistente al Galoppatoio…
	Assuming that this is not merely political posturing on the part of the Mayor, this would be an ideal solution. As has been suggested before, a tunnel with a tapis roulant could easily be made, linking Piazza del Popolo with the Galoppatoio parking garage. Just such a tunnel, similarly equipped, already exists between the Galoppatoio and Piazza di Spagna. The new tunnel would need to be only half the length of the existing one. As for “expanding the already existing Galoppatoio parking garage,” this could be done more easily than perhaps the Mayor imagines. About 20% of the area of that two-level garage is occupied by entities that have nothing to do with parking. Two car-rental agencies, a supermarket, a sport club, a carwash and an electric golf-cart rental agency occupy areas within the two levels that could easily be reconverted into parking spaces. It would only require the eviction of these activities and the demolition of some partition walls: no major construction would be needed to increase the parking by 20% (see diagram below). Further, the Galoppatoio parking garage is currently more than half empty on working days (see photo below), so the need for expansion of its parking facilities is essentially non-existent.

The Studium Urbis
Rome Research Center in Architecture and Urban Planning
Centro ricerca topografica di Roma
Via di Montoro 24 - 00186 Rome Italy
Tel. (06) 686-1191 (Rome)
studiumurbis@gmail.com
http://www.studiumurbis.org