Noble Roman fights plan for Hadrian’s tip
AN ITALIAN aristocrat who counts four popes as ancestors has started offering guided tours to highlight the threat posed to a Roman imperial palace by a proposed rubbish tip.
Prince Urbano Barberini is fighting a plan to build a huge dump in two disused quarries less than a mile from the perimeter of Hadrian’s Villa, a vast palace complex built in the hills to the east of Rome by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD.
He says the dump threatens not only the World Heritage-listed villa, which pre-pandemic attracted hundreds of thousands of tourists a year, but one of the last unspoilt stretches of countryside outside the capital.
The prince’s day job is as an actor – he appeared in Franco Zeffirelli’s Otello and in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, along with a long list of other credits.
But each Saturday he turns unpaid tour guide, inviting groups to see the countryside and archeological remains that are at risk. “Within half an hour of announcing the tours on Facebook, they are sold out,” he said.
This is just the latest effort in a decade-long campaign. “No normal country would be considering this. Imagine if the French came up with a plan to build a rubbish dump next to Versailles, or if the Egyptians built beneath the pyramids.”
He wants the area turned into a conservation zone featuring archeological ruins, sustainable farming and a network of footpaths.
The prince takes visitors to see a vast structure known as Il Ponte del Lupo – The Wolf ’s Bridge – just over a mile from the proposed dump. It is the well-preserved remains of a Roman aqueduct that dates back to 144 BC, one of several that brought water to the capital.
Among the four popes in the prince’s family tree was Urban VIII, a 17th century arts patron and a sponsor of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, credied with creating Baroque architecture. “My ancestors created great works of beauty, while I’m fighting to preserve them,” said the prince, whose full name is Urbano Riario Sforza Barberini Colonna di Sciarra.
Environmental groups and local villages are also opposed to the dump. “It’s absurd that they are still proposing the use of this site as a waste dump when it is so close to cultural heritage,” Federico Mariani, the mayor of the nearby village of Poli, said earlier this year. He too wants the area to be declared a protected park.
Rome has struggled to find a place to dispose of waste since a huge dump called Malagrotta closed in 2013.
It can be a dirty business – last month a regional official was arrested, accused of taking bribes to rush through permission for another dump around Rome.
The fate of the quarries near Hadrian’s Villa is in the hands of two bodies: a regional tribunal and the Council of State, a government entity in the capital.
As so often in the byzantine world of Italian bureaucracy, no clear date has been given for the rulings. “The next six to eight months are crucial because that’s when the initial authorisation that was obtained years ago is due to expire,” said the prince. “There is still hope of victory.”