Dear Mauro,

what you have seen are geocells, there are many on the market in Italy, of various brands and also of various materials; typically it is a sort of “nets”, about 10 cm high, extensible laterally, which once expanded form a sort of honeycomb structure, made of polypropylene fabric, or various other materials, usually porous. This type of material is widely used in the arrangement of escarpments rupees, and for this reason it is usually supplied above all to public administrations, which also make extensive use of it in urban furnishings. The purpose of the geocells is to keep the land they enclose in place, anchoring it, without human intervention being noticed from the outside; they are often used along erosion-prone slopes, devoid of trees and shrubs. Practically before laying them, the soil is prepared, working it well, then the geocells are widened, anchored to the ground and filled with earth, so that the earth prevents them from closing; the porous material of which they are made allows the water from the irrigation to migrate between the cells, and therefore become a sort of integral part of the soil: the plants or the grass placed at home grows and expands as if the geocells were not there not even. Many municipalities, as well as in the case of steep slopes and cliffs, also use geocells in flower beds, especially in very busy areas; this is because the passage of human beings, and also the low maintenance that usually characterizes urban flower beds, the passage of vehicles and other means in the vicinity, can cause poor cohesion of the plants with the ground; the presence of geocells, in addition to firmly anchoring the soil in place, also allows the first 10 cm of the root system of the plants to be immovable, with obvious advantages for those small plants located in the city, which suffer every kind of stress every day. With geocells it is also possible to form shallow flower beds, which nevertheless remain in position, without being moved by atmospheric events. There are also geocells in waterproof plastic material, which are usually used for pavements or parking lots, filled with gravel or sand; the purpose of this type of geocell is to make the gravel a sort of single body, so that the weight of the vehicles is better distributed on the foundations of the parking lot, without creating paths in the areas most subject to traffic or the passage of tires. There are many geocells on the market, and many Italian companies produce them, so I think it is not difficult to find them in a hobby shop, or even get them by contacting one of the manufacturing companies based in Italy.