The Garden

«To find inspiration and material for this book, the parks of Rome were essential. The represented plants can be found either at Villa Celimontana (the Cedar, near which I played as a child) or especially in the Botanical Garden of Rome. The stories have been thought while I was drawing plants live, inspired by what each plant, in its specific appearance, offered to imagination. There are many autobiographical elements: the character of the grandmother is based on my grandfather, who I often went to visit during the year in which I wrote the thesis, despite not recognizing me anymore. The friends story it’s also personal: it was a moment in my life where many of the people who had always been close to me were moving and our relationships seemed to deteriorate because of distance. Together with these events I wanted to sew a theme that I have always felt close: the commonality of Man with Nature and the need to maintain it».