L’OASI
Rome exists thanks to the Tiber. It precedes the city and continues to flow fearlessly, with its vegetation, its floods, its river air. Despite its glorious past as a true protagonist, today the Tiber is a picture postcard river, which one looks at from the heights of its bridges and walls, distractedly.
For many Romans, its banks are a hostile, inaccessible, smelly and dangerous place. With the passage of time, citizens have moved away from this natural environment, either because of a radical change in lifestyle and society, or because of the presence of the high walls, built after the flood of 1870.
The perturbing image of the Tiber, a little bit bucolic and a little bit terrifying, led me to step onto its banks without prejudice and with curiosity. I walked along its banks in the section that runs inside the great ring road, from Ponte di Castel Giubileo to Ponte di Mezzocamino. I looked for access to the river that was often impossible because of the vegetation and the numerous private clubs that have established themselves on its banks over the years.
Continuing along the course of the Tiber, towards the suburbs, the noise of the city fades, the temperature cools, the white poplars perfume the air, the greenery expands and the vast fauna manifests itself. There is little human presence: those who come here are often in search of quiet, a refuge, an oasis of peace.
Like Riccardo and Federico who have found a place on the Tiber Island where they meet after work to read and relax, or Tomo, who has just arrived from Bangladesh, who comes down along the banks to Marconi because she feels serene here.
And then there is Mary Jane, with Omar, under a bamboo hut by the water. Ever since she was a little girl, she has been going down to the banks of the river at Magliana, for her these places are beautiful and magical.
Many of the glimpses in this series take place in areas that are part of the Programme of Interventions in preparation for the Jubilee 2025, which envisages the reclamation and creation of five parks on the banks of the river.
The image of the banks of the Tiber is most likely about to change again.
The work is part of the project Leica Chilometro Zero, in collaboration with Contrasto Books. L’OASI was curated by Vogue Senior Photo Editor Francesca Marani