Rome: Italy's Capital...of Evictions

Pigneto mural.  The flag says "STOP Sfratti"

"Rome is Italy's capital of evictions," announces professor of Urban Studies Pierpaolo Mudu in a recent essay on housing.  According to Mudu, about 6700 eviction orders were issued in 2011, and since 1983 actual evictions have average 2850 every year.  About 60% of evictions occur because tenants can't or wouldn't pay the rent, most of the rest because a rental contract had expired.

The Italian word for evictions is "sfratti."

Ar bottom: "Together we block evictions."  

The odd thing about evictions is one seldom sees them happening.  No heap of furniture outside, no
tearful tenants being dragged from their doorways. That's because today, most evictions take place on Rome's periphery, where the city's working class and poor reside, rather than in the tourist-heavy Centro.













That wasn't always the case.  In the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of ordinary Romans were evicted from their center-city homes and apartments to make way for the broad avenues and vehicles favored by the Fascist regime.  They were moved to borgate (villages, hamlets), including Acilia, built from scratch in 1923, about 15 km outside the city.  Later, those evicted--both from legal and illegal housing (borgetti) were moved to Magliana (built at the end of the 1960s), and to public housing built at Laurentino 38, Tor Bella Monaca, and Corviale.

Typical post-war public housing.  Centocelle area.  

For much of the early twentieth century, Rome governments, whether Fascist or democratic, built  a lot of public housing.  Some of it, as in close-in Garbatella, was well-designed and produced workable communities. And some of it--Corviale is a famous example--was poorly designed, alienating from the start.

Beginning in about 1980 (coinciding with Reagan's election in the United States), city governments showed little interest in public housing, even as housing absorbed a larger and larger percentage of household income, and evictions continued apace.

Squatters in EUR, c. 1940

Thousands of  people found accommodations as squatters, living in unoccupied quarters in housing projects, or in shanty towns without public services.  In the 1970s there were forced relocations from Valle Aurelia, Mandrione, Prenestino and Casilino to "dormitories" in Corviale, Laurentino 38, and Spinaceto.

Idroscalo, once again threatened with demolition.

Today there is apparently only one borgetto (an illegally constructed neighborhood) left in Rome: Idroscalo, on the coast. About 100 of the homes in Idroscalo were bulldozed in 2011, and it seems clear that the authorities would like to level the remaining buildings to make way for a large marina, a resort hotel, and other amenities they think will attract tourists with money.

Vicolo Savini, after evictions of Rom (Roma) in 2011

It's tempting to blame the evictions on insensitive right-wing mayors, like Gianni Alemanno, and indeed he was responsible for the 2011 evictions from 4 unauthorized encampments, in Tiburtina and vicolo Savini (across the river from the Marconi neighborhood), most of whose residents were Roma (sometimes called "Rom," sometimes "gypsies").  But the center-left hasn't been much better.  In 2005, Walter Veltroni (who wrote an introduction to our first book, Rome the Second Time) authorized the eviction of hundreds of Senegalese and Italians from Residence Roma, a building near Forte Bravetta on Rome's north end.

Communist Party poster opposing
evictions.  Posted by a Quadraro committee,
but this one was in Torpignattara.  

Resistance to evictions, and more generally to inadequate housing, was in the post-war years led by the Communist Party, which sought to help residents of the borgate by working to legalize illegal housing.  Although not the force it was years ago, the party remains active in opposing evictions.

Graffiti in San Basilio, commemorating the 30th anniversary
 of the 1974 deadly clash with police over evictions
 (reading "San Basilio: Same Dignity, Same Anger, 1974-2014")

After 1970, the main form of resistance was squatting--that is, the illegal occupation of empty apartments and buildings, including public housing projects--along with demands for lower rents.  At one protest in San Basilio in September 1974, a young left-wing activist was killed in a clash with police.

Today, some of San Basilio's "projects" are decorated with handsome multi-story murals, including a group of 6 by Hitnes.  Even so, if the posters and graffiti in San Basilio and similar neighborhoods are any indication, evictions continue, and with them, new efforts at resistance.

Bill

"Rent is Robbery. Occupy"     Pigneto.  

Rome artist Hitnes follows Audobon

Brown Pelican, August, Miami, FL

Hitnes, a Rome painter and public muralist, is reaching the end of an epic voyage - replicating John James Audobon's (1785-1851) travels along the U.S.'s East Coast, and painting his way on that voyage.  His trip ends in a few days (October 24).  I've always been entranced with Hitnes's gorgeous depictions of animals--real, imagined, and some of both.  We've even bought a small "acquaforte" (a type of etching) of our own to treasure.  Some of these small pieces, along with larger ones, are on his Web site.

One of the small etchings.

Working on the Brown Pelican.

Hitnes's current project is nothing short of astounding. He's been on a 20-city, self-financed, 3-month road trip, with a videographer, and sometimes also Jessica Stewart, the authority on all Roman street art. Hitnes is traveling along Audubon's exploratory voyages from the 1830s, as he describes it, "delving into the current state of the birds he [Audobon] documented."

A painting featuring the "Roseate Spoonbill,"
painted in September in St Petersburg, FL,
(I like the UHaul effect)

You can follow Hitnes on both "The Image Hunter" Web site--where there are many photographs and videos of the live birds, and his own site.

Hitnes describes himself as a painter, muralist, adventurer and fisherman.  He's a 33 year-old Roman whose work we've admired under one of the Ostiense bridges, and in the housing projects in Rome's suburban San Basilio, among many other places.

Hitnes's bloody-mouthed cat--who clearly got her mouse--
at one of the via Ostiense underpasses in Rome.

Don't miss the work of this impressive artist.

One of SIX building walls Hitnes painted in San Basilio, a Rome far-flung neighborhood that needed some decoration.  No, he doesn't always do cats.  I'm a bit cat-focused since our beloved Zelda, our 16 year-old "tortie" died recently.

Dianne

24 Hours in Rome

We--that is, RST, Bill and Dianne--are often asked what we "do" in Rome, given that we've been here so often and spend so much time in the city.  There's no simple way to answer the question. We're planners--we read La Repubblica almost every morning, looking for things to do, whether it's jazz in the evening, an art exhibit, or a demonstration to attend.  We read trovaroma, La Repubblica's Thursday supplement.  We get suggestions from friends.  We're on lots of email lists--for music, art, conferences, films series, hiking.  Because we enjoy walking and have a scooter, we're mobile - within about 25 miles of Rome.

On most days, our "sources" yield a couple of things to do.  But once in a while we get lucky, as we did last weekend.  Here's our "24 Hours in Rome," from Saturday night through Sunday night:

Saturday

One of these is carved from Carrara marble and is now in a niche at St.
Peter's.  The other consists of a shell of chicken wire,
covered with clay and plaster of Paris--and came first.  

9 p.m.   A mile+ walk from our Monteverde Vecchio digs to Macro Testaccio (in the former slaughterhouse) for an exhibit by sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot (b. Roma 1966). Highlight is a superb video showing Ducrot at work with his colleagues on a massive statue of Saint Annibale Maria di Francia that eventually is lifted and fitted into a niche at St. Peter's.

Swing dancing at La Moderna

10 p.m.  Swing dancing at La Moderna, a restaurant within a stone's throw of Macro Testaccio, in the new Testaccio market. They've cleared the tables for a dance floor. Two women give swing lessons to recorded music, then the live band takes over.  We love to dance, and we do, surrounded by Italian couples, a few of whom know what they're doing.  Beer and wine.

11 p.m.  Up the hill and "home."

Sunday

50s-era building housing coffee bar, needs TLC

9:15  a.m.  Scooter out via Tiburtina to San Basilio, a far-flung suburb to the city's northeast, tight up against the GRA (Rome's outer 'beltway').  Not the sort of place anyone would normally visit, but we've heard there's a tour of area housing, and we are housing addicts.  (From Dianne: Bill has read an article on this suburb, that includes a description of evictions here and the killing of a young protester by a policeman in 1974; hence we're more than merely interested in the housing.)

Guide at left, friend at right

Coffee with Italian friends at a 1950s-era bar in Piazza Urbania, a "talk" to just the 4 of us by the tour guide, a professor (it turns out the 4 of us are the only people there who aren't part of the community and the event).

Courtyard of 1950s housing project

Then a stroll around the town: lovely garden apartments, a walk through one of them, a substantial public garden, a larger public housing project built in the 1950s.

One of half a dozen animal-themed
murals by the artist Hitnes, in
San Basilio

When the tour ends we nose around, looking at San Basilio's impressive wall art.  The tour is part of Open House Roma 2015 - an event with almost 200 locales - ancient to contemporary - open over the weekend.

Dianne relaxing in Mezzo Litro, Monte Sacro

12:30 p.m. Now starving, thirsty and tired, on the way home we park the scooter in the main square of Monte Sacro (Piazza Sempione), reminded once again of how evocative its faux-medieval buildings are.  Find our oasis - lunch nearby at "Mezzo Litro," where we had a bit less than that along with two plates of lasagna; too hungry to share.  A straight shot on the scooter down via Nomentana to Monteverde Vecchio (i.e., home).



4:30 p.m.   Our respite at home doesn't last long. Shortly after Dianne discovers a library we want to see is open without reservations as part of Open House Roma, we are back on the scooter to Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano.  The Biblioteca

Roselli and King's library

Pontificia--the Pontifical Library--has been restructured in 2005/06 by architects Riccardo Roselli and Jeremy King, and the work had been recommended to us by a well-known Rome architect.  A delightful space, cleverly designed in a way that our guide likens to Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Just Borromini

5:45 p.m. We can't resist a few minutes inside Borromini's octagonal, domed baptistery (one might say the Guggenheim was inspired by Borromini), which is right there. The metal grates in the floor are alone worth the stop (D: for Bill).

Hip mom and son, treats still wrapped

6:30 p.m.  Scooter over to Testaccio, where, according to La Repubblica, a rehabilitated Porta di Roma (Port of Rome) is being opened.  Will the mayor be there?  As it happens, no one's there--no one's where we expect them to be--but on a chance we walk a few blocks to some of the old Roman storage areas we know about.  And there's the crowd.  We're too early for the festivities and the food, so we head for one of our favorite Testaccio bars.

No cat fell on our awning this time

7:00 p.m.  Aperitivo.  Pretty much all the food you'd want and a glass of wine for 6 Euro per person. This cafe is the place where years ago a cat fell from an upper story and landed (unhurt but screeching in terror) on a large awning right above us as we were having a coffee outside. This time we're safely inside, though right next to an open door and in the evening breeze.

Feeding frenzy

7:30 p.m.  Back to the Porta Roma (Porticus Aemelia) opening. The ruins are spectacular: the remains of a 2nd century B.C. storage and trans-shipment facility that would have rivaled the Port of Los Angeles in drama and size.  Now part of a public park space. Yes, you can touch the arches.  Music by a community band of limited ability, a scramble among the Italians (we're full) for the free food.  We manage a couple of glasses of complimentary prosecco.  Some well-done outdoor, permanent watercolors, part of a public art campaign in Rome, have been unveiled.  A ceremony, but no mayor.

People watching at Studio Spazzi Multipli

8:00 p.m.  Walking to our scooter, which we've left at Porta Portese, we come upon another event that's part of Open House Roma. An open architectural studio, Studio Spazzi Multipli; contemporary design in the basement of an early 1900s Testaccio public housing building.  A glass of bubbly on the house, watching the 20-somethings.

And home.  A nightcap on the balcony, celebrating our "24 Hours in Rome" and thinking, ala Buffalo Bills ex-coach Marv Levy, "There's no place we'd rather be, than right here, right now."

Bill