Il giardino di palazzo Barberini a Roma. Storia e ipotesi di restauro

The essay examines some restoration proposals for the garden of Palazzo Barberini in Rome. This historic garden was in origin a big park hierarchically linked to the building and constituted by two terracings adorned by sculptures and fountains. The garden was used in early XVII century by the cardinal Francesco Barberini for his botanical interests and afterwards the obelisk, called ‘guglia’, was to be erected there on a project by Carlo Fontana. In recent times, the garden has been gradually reduced because of the urbanistic renovation of the city between the XIX and the beginning of the XX century. Although much of the ancient layout has been lost, some archival documents, books and drawings are precious to read in the correct way this space. To date, there is a need to develop a new and unitary figurative image, recovering the suggestions of the first garden from historical representations and documents, respecting the value of the monument. Two design solutions are presented which are based on the re-enactment of the past events of the site and the figures that animated it, using contemporary and current ways.