Piazza Giacomo Matteotti

Giacomo Matteotti Square is only a few steps from the Via Roma, and is the continuation of the walk from uptown to the watercourse crossing the residential area. Once, the bridge was accessible only to motor vehicles. Francesco Steccanella redesigned this area to serve as a park and pedestrian zone with walking paths and rest areas. Sr. Steccanella took the opportunity to give coherence to two parts of the city divided only by water, extending some of the architectural solutions previously adopted behind the main square and church. Here he implemented combinations of stone and metal materials, and a design solution for the collection of surface rainwater.
The newly designed waterfall basin and parking lot behind the walkway used pietra serena stone combined with weathered steel. These materials have a tonal union due to the sandstone’s ferrous vein content, which steers the basic gray of the sand slabs towards the color of rusty steel.
Along the pedestrian stretch and its motorcar parking lot extension, the slabs simulate brickwork of very prolonged proportions, laid with a generous cement screed joint. The round-stamped weathered steel is regularly inserted in the ground mesh, delineating the boarder between pause and movement, as well as the parking lot bays.
The ornamental waterworks consist of a solid wall surmounted and covered on one side by weathered steel. This leaves the stone exposed to the vertical waterfall, which flows to a basin level surrounded by a cobblestone walkway. The low wall is to all effects a stone brick wall with a characteristically chipped face. The irregularity of the surface plays with light and shade and the sound and visual vibration of the water. Here rusty sediments from the weathered steel become deposited in the waterfall on the dark veined sandstone that mingle and contribute to a unique overall coloring.