592 > Italian Garden of Peace, 2018

592 > Italian Garden of Peace, 2018

Built on a ridge on the Chemin des Dames, the village of Vieux Craonne was completely destroyed during the First World War. Many Italian fighters were killed during this battle and landscapers Lorenza Bartolazzi, Luca Catalano and Claudia Clementini have created a garden in memory of 592 soldiers buried nearby in the cemetery of Soupire. To highlight the tormented topography of the site of Vieux Craonne, deformed by bombs, the designers have covered some hollows with a layer of clay which retain rainwater like tears, reflecting the sky and the leaves of the undergrowth. Planted among the trees, a tight frame of stakes symbolizes the battalions of soldiers fallen during the combat: in the spring they are lit by an explosion of colours which comes to light them beginning with the red of tulips, in memory of the combatants.The blooms then continue until autumn, with a predominance of bluish hues. In winter, the garden dies back, and the hollows fill with water from the melting snow, keeping the memory of the place alive until the return of summer.