Porcinai Garden Saved: Restoration of Italy’s Green Masterpiece

The battle of Paolo Matteotti lasted for years, but in the end, in extremis, it was won: the Porcinai Garden is safe. We are talking about the green area in front of the Rocca fortress, designed back in 1964 by Pietro Porcinai, Italy’s leading landscape architect, which was at risk of being completely destroyed to make way for a new park designed from scratch by a still competent architect.

However, in December of last year, after writing dozens of letters and moving heaven and earth, Paolo Matteotti, head of the municipal public green space commission, succeeded in the difficult task of stopping the bureaucratic machine and saving the jewel of one of the “masters of green”, recognized internationally.

A few weeks before the start of the works, it was decided to implement a “restoration” project for the park rather than a “renovation”. This decision was made at the end of last year, during a meeting attended by Milena Matteini, who was Porcinai’s right-hand woman for many years, and Giorgio Rigo, president of Italia Nostra.

Interventions and Changes

Matteini recognized the hand of the master in the park’s design and provided some advice, necessary also considering the changes that had taken place over the decades. The two main novelties are the relocation of the statue of San Giovanni Nepomuceno and the decision to open the central gate of the Rocca.

Thus, except for the new square in front of the gate, the green space will retain the imprint desired by the master: the large green lawn will be preserved without new pathways; new benches will be added around the perimeter (Matteini would have liked each to have a shrub at its base, but this solution can only be implemented later); and the existing pathway with stone slabs will be complemented by another that will allow wheelchair and disabled access.

“I am very satisfied,” reveals Matteotti, “because the Porcinai Park was saved at the very last moment. Key to this result were the efforts of Adalberto Mosaner and the great availability of architect Sandro Aita, who was commissioned by the Province to draft the new project, setting aside his own idea to ‘update’ Porcinai’s original.”

Project and Benefits

The park will be ready by next spring, and the cost—another important aspect—should be much lower than the 500 million lire initially allocated for radical changes.

In the end, Riva will have a new, valuable “monument” to show to tourists, enthusiasts, and scholars of the sector. “At the entrance,” concludes Matteotti, “a plaque will be placed to explain to visitors that the area has been restored by Sandro Aita based on the original project by Pietro Porcinai.”