These Indian ink drawings of Don Bosco – Tuscolano quarter, in Rome, are inspired by the bird’s eye views used as a city’s ‘business card’ in European courts from the 16th till the 19th century. The power of these views comes from a recognition of the City as a compact element, unitary, with peculiar earmarks, almost like a human portrait.
United city fronts on the Aqueducts park and Centocelle park; the transport spine of ‘Tuscolana’ from Porta Furba to Cinecittà; Salesians’ church; the INA’s towers and “horizontal houses”; the corporative high-density developments; the buildings of property speculation… some of the characteristic elements that form the physical identity of the quarter and make it immediately recognisable.

1. bird’s eye view, drawing ink on paper 100×65

2. bird’s eye view, drawing ink on paper 90×55

3. bird’s eye view, drawing ink on paper 70×44

4. bird’s eye view, drawing ink on paper 70×34

5. ground view, entrance to Cinecittà, drawing ink on paper 85×25

6. ground view, old shacks near the ancient aqueduct, drawing ink on paper 55,5×20

7. ground view, fields, aqueduct and railroad, drawing innko n paper 54×20

8. ground view, small shops, drawing ink on paper 37×20

Jacopo Bonifaci was born in 1983. Born and raised in Rome, where he lives and works as an architect.

Volume 1, no. 1 March 2017