Construction Logistics and Labor

Cheyanne Mayes
2 days ago
2 min read

As many cities do, Rome has that hustle and bustle feel to it. Constant sirens, people talking, cars honking, and of course, construction. There is no escape from scaffolding, large machines, barriers, and everything that comes with a construction sight when in Rome. many times you are even rerouted around construction sites. Most of this has to do with the restoration of buildings.

This year many of the church's facades were getting cleaned. There is lots of scaffolding and noise in many of the piazzas due to this. But, when visiting some of the higher end piazza, such as piazza Navona, you can see some hidden scaffolding. The large scaffolding is hidden behind a covering that is meant to mimic the building behind it. Including the street sign, windows, graduated rustication of the trims, colors, and everything of the building that is being worked. Another observation was that this method became more used the closer we got to Vatican City.

Most construction sites do have a barrier or fence of some sort around it. This helps to keep pedestrians safe, but also not make the construction an eye sore for tourists. However, the large cranes and some scaffolding still manage to poke out into view. Despite efforts to hide construction, these large machines tend to become part of the skyline of Rome.

In more urban areas such as Trastevere, the labor and construction is not as hidden. Many times you can see a barrier around waste high for safety and the workers doing their jobs. It is not very often in these areas that they take the time to hide the work they are doing. This is likely because not many tourists visit these areas.