Roma Vietata: Book Explores 1970s Rome's Car-Friendly Public Space

A new book, 'Roma Vietata, viaggio nella città raggiungibile' (Humboldt Books), edited by Stefano Ciavatta and architect Luca Galofaro, examines Rome's relationship with public space in the 1970s through photographs by Enrico Blasi and other archival materials. The book contrasts the car-accessible city of 1972, where piazzas were filled with parked cars and used daily by residents, with today's tourist-oriented, restricted Rome. Blasi's images, originally for the 1972 book 'Le piazze di Roma' by Cesare Jannoni Sebastianini (Schwarz & Meyer), show a real, lived-in city rather than a rarefied museum. The volume includes photos, maps, brochures, and other ephemera to document a time when driving to the heart of Rome was a natural right. Ciavatta and Galofaro argue that this accessibility fostered a deep, visceral bond between Romans and their urban space, contrasting with current mobility restrictions and the rise of a sanitized, artificial Rome for tourists. The book also draws parallels to Reyner Banham's 'Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies', suggesting Rome's 1970s car culture echoed a global urban condition.