A long and unique natural route from Rome to the Castles. It is the heart of a bill filed in the Lazio Regional Council which aims to expand the Castelli Romani Park to join it to that of the Appia Antica. The idea, as it was in Antonio Cederna’s dreams, is to create a precious ‘green lung’ between landscape and archaeological beauties. The two regional councilors Marco Cacciatore (Green Europe) and Marta Bonafoni (List civic Zingaretti) sign the proposal. “Already in 2018, with the expansion of the Appia Antica Park – even that law proposed by me together with my colleague Bonafoni -, we had safeguarded an important green area from settlement possibilities that would have proved useless and unsustainable”, he explains to the ‘Adnkronos Marco Cacciatore. “In that case, as with the current bill on the union of parks, we are moving in the footsteps of Antonio Cederna who in his writings recalled how natural resources and green areas were exposed to the risk of unsustainable and unbalanced economic exploitation. that it was therefore necessary to safeguard these areas, for the benefit of local communities as well as future generations “. Marta Bonafoni also mentions Cederna’s dream when talking about the creation of a large ‘green corridor’ between the center of Rome and the Alban Hills. “An extraordinary heritage of history, culture, landscape, environment, biodiversity as the engine of a new model of territorial promotion, which sees the communities as protagonists”, highlights Adnkronos. Specifically, the expansion of the Castelli Romani Park provides for the inclusion within it of important areas from an archaeological, naturalistic and landscape point of view such as the ancient city of Bovillae (in the Municipality of Marino), the Tenuta di Mura dei Francesi ( in the Municipality of Ciampino) “and others that may also be added following the technical and political debate”, recalls Cacciatore. A project, the regional councilor Ev stresses, which “will give citizens the possibility of enjoying a purely collective asset such as the landscape, which nevertheless provides space for sustainable mobility projects (such as bioways) within this vast protected area. Furthermore, the connection with other projects that will be able to put in communication the various ‘green lungs’ of the metropolitan area of Rome, in terms of paths and landscape routes, will be able to further enhance these territories “. Then he specifies: “a little while ago I used the expression ‘give back to citizens’ for a very specific reason. When a Park is established – or as in this case its perimeter is enlarged – it is redistributing wealth to the community. At least on the side of natural resources, it is not always necessary to create new wealth but to distribute it equally, and natural goods, like all resources in the entire West, have for decades been subject to concentration in a few hands, to the detriment of the community and social utility. As I understand it, ecology is integral, it is solidarity, it is the protection of an ecosystem that foresees the environment but on the basis of the interaction between human beings and the guarantee of dignity for all and everyone, and passes through the contrast to concentration of wealth and power. Otherwise, to quote Chico Mendes, ecology risks being reduced to simple gardening “. Filed in the Lazio Regional Council, now “like all legislative proposals – specifies Bonafoni, dwelling on the process – it will be examined and discussed in the competent Commission, in this case the Environment Commission, and subsequently forwarded to the Council for final approval. excluding, however, that the content of the proposal may even find space in the next Linked to the regional stability law 2021 which will soon arrive in the Regional Council “. The regional law does not provide for appropriations. “It is clear that in the PNRR era, but also regardless of emergency allocations, the parks that come together – says Cacciatore – bring communities to converge, guaranteeing the extension of a network on the territory which can then be an element to attract resources and guarantee usability of natural wealth in people’s daily lives “. A proposal that has already received appreciation from local administrations to territorial associations “which have long been committed to ensuring that important parts of the territory of significant landscape interest are included in the perimeter of the Parco dei Castelli. The joining of the two parks – concludes Bonafoni – also allows two management bodies to strengthen common actions to improve the protection, access and usability of this archaeological and environmental system unique in the world “.