My research as a Fellow in Landscape Architecture at the American Academy in Rome concerned the healing nature of gardens. Throughout the course of the year I visited dozens of cloisters within Rome. I focused on San Cosimato in Trastevere, a 10th century Benedictine monastery that was added to in the 15th and 17th centuries. In the 19th century, the complex was converted into a hospice, and is now the Ospedale Nuovo Regina Margherita. These days the cloisters are inhabited by patients in turquoise bathrobes and hospital staff on break.

​

My project 3 Gardens for San Cosimato was selected in the Visionary Landscapes competition sponsored by Landscape Architecture magazine (1995). My fellowship was sponsored by the Garden Club of America.