Borders (toying with the idea)

I was walking around the Quirinale (the presidential palace hill), coming home from a boring debate on photography in Italy. I expected some interesting insights but most of the participants were frustrated museum directors. Empty streets, no one around. Suddenly I heard the typical sound of a car hitting a road paved with “sanpietrini”.

Sanpietrini (the name cames from “St. Peter”, where they were first used) are the square stones used to pave roads in Italy. The nightmare of cyclists as they make the ride really bumpy. When you are on a car (or near one, in my case) which pass from the smooth tarmac to the sanpietrini, the tyres make a characteristic noise. I associate it to visiting my relatives in their village: it was not when I saw the street or the house that I knew I was arrived but only when I felt the sanpietrini (who often would wake me up). A sentimental detour, but just to point out that the border between tarmac and sanpietrini is a meaningful one for me.

So I started to wonder where are, in Roma, the borders between roads paved with sanpietrini and tarmac. The spot where I had the idea really looked like a border: a small police post guarding the presidential palace was perfectly lined up with it. In the slideshow below you can find other examples of such borders, captured on my walk back home. I tried to take pictures of people crossing them (in the roads around the Quirinale I managed to get some martial pictures of military “crossing borders”) looking at maps on them (this faulty lines seems to confuse lost tourists), or simply hanging around. Sometimes these borders would divide a road by the length, and people would do different things on different surfaces (e.g. walking or reading books). If I was serious about it I should map where the sanpietrini are, and start probably with the original sanpietrini around St Peter. Anyway, for now I was only toying with the idea.

I also found interesting the borders established by the “madonnari” as they do their street painting. I spent some time looking at one of these artist to check if people were respecting or not the border he established by a crowded corner. Mixed results. Other madonnari chose not to establish borders, and trusted people to respect their art.

Last but not list, this bridges between a borders and faith project (in restrospect I should have pushed for faith.. Roma would have been the perfect spot!)