Eternal Paving in the Eternal City

This is not a new subject for me or for most people who have spent any time at all in Rome, but the paving stones known as San Pietrini – little St. Peters, little rocks – are very much front of mind for anyone who walks here, as it requires significantly more work than walking on smooth surfaces.

The cobbled streets develop bumps and craters. The carefully laid stones wiggle out of alignment. Some of the stones fracture, leaving sharper edges. I don’t think frost heaves occur in this climate, but the streets make it look possible. You have to watch where you’re going or you may trip over a stone that has protruded an inch above its neighbors. (That happened to Steve just today! No harm done.) Empty holes in the pavement make me wonder if someone has taken a very heavy souvenir.

The wheels of cars, scooters, and bicycles tend to be large enough to span multiple stones, though their operators should pay attention to what’s ahead of them. We have not observed any kids on skateboards, nor women in stilettos, for whom it could be dangerous to encounter the irregularities of this kind of street..

Compared to asphalt street paving, the reusable stones set into sand are quite labor intensive but they use much less new material, create no pollution, and can be done in small areas economically. The medium-sized Piazza di San Calisto was torn up and replaced in the past week, and we watched its progress. The artisan who did most of the re-laying of the stones took deserved pride in his work.

My next-to-last post from our November 2019 trip to London concerned our watching some English road repair near our apartment there. [https://www.unfriedblog.com/post/road-work-with-little-machines] The two countries’ contrasting ways of repairing their roads in minimally invasive ways, far from the American way, always strike me, and amuse me.