»Today Zappata Romana is an association and it started simply with a map on Google maps.
On this map, we have recorded all the shared and abandoned gardens in Rome. At the end of 2010 we had a list of about 40 gardens in Rome and we thought it was a shame that nobody knew about it. This map empowered us strongly and there was an increase of new members and since then we have grown continuously.
So, it became a network and at the same time we have created a website where you can for example download a manual showing our work. Meanwhile, we have a list and mapped about 150 gardens in Rome.
Then we were appointed by the Appia Antica park-management to help them maintain some parts of the park. The park management wanted to involve citizens and so we collaborated. Here in the Appia Antica Park we only plant plants from ancient times, because it is an archaeological park.
We don't get any financial support from the state but we are dependent on donations and volunteer work. We also organize workshops for children, we arrange courses and we also invite external gardeners to give some lectures or painters and illustrators.
The feedback to our work is very strong and I was really surprised because Romans are often considered cynical people. Of course, people have to be sure that you don't have any second or hidden interests.
Some people only come once, others visit us regularly. Yesterday for example, a little boy came with his parents and he had not slept all night before because he was so excited. The boy brought his own tools and first he was very anxious of spending the day in the garden, but in the end he worked here and spent the entire morning here with his parents.
You have to give people the right conditions and then they are generous and something happens. Some people recognize then the importance of our work; for example there is a pomegranate tree here which has been planted by a family for her newborn child or a ficus which is in memory of a young colleague who passed away.
I think life is short and it's better to do something and to think positively than to complain. At the same time, I also see the problems that exist in the public gardens, there is a lack of personnel and financial resources. Of course, I also know that the public sector is very corrupt and there is a huge waste of taxpayers' money.
On the one hand our crisis consists of those who represent us and at the same time the citizens have to look for new ways and show more appreciation and responsibility towards the common good. But that will take time.
The children, who come to us, maybe they will obtain a new and more responsible view of life, this is my hope, finally.«