Badanti: Caring for the Elderly in Rome

A common sight in Rome neighborhoods is an elderly man or woman walking arm-in-arm, or next to, a younger person.  Often that younger person is a son or daughter, but just as often it's a paid caretaker--in Italian, a badante--from the verb badare: to mind, to pay attention to, to take care of. Bada! (take care!).  Most badanti are immigrants, especially Filipinos (described by a friend as the "Cadillac" of badanti) and, increasingly, Romanians, who now can travel freely within the European Union.  Unlike in the U.S., where older people who live alone--even with a caretaker--can be quite isolated, in Rome badanti help the elderly get out on the street and engage socially, if only for an hour or so in the morning and/or afternoon.

Monteverde Vecchio (and those above)

Balsamo Crivelli

via Prenestina

Bill

A Fire on the River: the Two Sides of Rome's Tevere

Looking south from Ponte della Scienza

Early in the morning of June 28, a fire broke out on the east bank of the Tevere, between the relatively new walking bridge, Ponte della Scienza, and Ponte Marconi, downstream.  The fire started in a riverbank encampment (illegal, of course) of some 15 Romanian families, living in some 25 sheds and shacks. Fire departments from Testaccio and EUR responded, but their ability to deal with the blaze was limited by the steep terrain of the riverbank at that point.  Fortunately, no one was injured or died in the fire, but the families were made homeless.

East bank fire, seen from the west bank

Couple enjoying the river and the gazometro from beneath
the Ponte della Scienza, west bank

We found the story sad but also instructive, especially about the complexity of the Tevere as it winds through the city.  On the one hand, about a mile from the site of the fire--beneath Piazza Trilussa--the west bank of the river has been transformed by William Kentridge into one of the century's monumental works of art.

And, on that west bank one can jog or ride a bike on a paved track near water level, about 50 feet below the top of the river bank, for miles, from Ponte della Scienza north.




On the other hand, as one goes south from Ponte Testaccio, people live amid the dense foliage on the east bank of the river.  On that side of the river, there is no regular path for walking or biking, just dirt paths leading down through the weeds into the encampments.

Encampments, east bank, photographed from west bank

Still, parts of the east bank below Ponte dell'Industria (the "Iron Bridge," between Ponte Testaccio and Ponte della Scienza) are accessible, reasonably safe, and compelling in their way.  One approaches from via del Porto Fluviale (a now trendy area for restaurants in Ostiense) takes a curving street--Riva Ostiense--past some new high-end apartments, and out onto a broad street that's full of colorful graffiti of the customary "lettering" style, dramatic equipment once used for loading and unloading ships on the river, the best view in the city of the largest of the gazometri, and the backs of once-active industrial buildings.  One can "exit" over the Ponte della Scienza, a few hundred yards downriver.

The safer part of Riva Ostiense

Farther down.  These structures--industrial detritus from an earlier era--can be seen in the fire photos, above.

Farther on, the area gets dicey and possibly dangerous.  We had assumed that Riva Ostiense was open on the southern end, and it should be, but it isn't, and so there is no through traffic either for autos or pedestrians. Moreover, at some point about a quarter mile downriver from the Scienza bridge, those living on the bank have closed off what remains of the road with green canvas.  So one has to retreat--and the word feels appropriate.

Path leading down to an encampment below

The light blue at the center of the photo is an encampment, likely destroyed in the fire.

Encampment, seen from Ponte della Scienza, looking north.  Probably escaped the fire. 

Rome in a nutshell, one might say.  A nice path for jogging and biking on one side, people living in squalor and poverty on the other, a few hundreds yards from new luxury apartments.  And Riva Ostiense, open to Ponte della Scienza, beckoning to those with just a little sense of adventure, but beyond that, abandonment and no-man's-land, no effort at development or maintenance.

Bill

The Romanian Presence

This rack of magazines, found in the town/suburb of Acilia, 15 km to the west of Rome, illustrates the growing numbers of Romanians in Rome, its surrounding communities, and throughout Italy. The words in yellow translate as "Romanian Newspapers and Magazines Available Here." Interestingly, Acilia was the first community to be described by the term "borgate"--the translation might be "working-class suburb"--in 1924.


The first wave of Romanian immigrants arrived in 1999, and another, larger one, followed in 2002, when emigration from Romania to Italy became possible without a visa. As early as 2001 Romanians ranked second to Albanians for sheer numbers of immigrants to Italy. By the end of 2006 there were about 550,000 Romanians in Italy--15% of all foreign citizens--and they now number an estimated 1,000,000. Although Romanians consider themselves heirs of ancient Rome and bound to Italians by a common "Romance" language system, they are often viewed with suspicion by the natives. (As Dianne points out in her 8/23/09 post on the guys who dress up as "gladiators," even Romanian success stories can bring hostility. When Romanians moved into the Centurion-impersonation business at Castel Sant'Angelo, the natives resented the encroachment on their territory). In 2007, Italy began to deport Romanians with criminal records, a controversial project at best.

Bill

Dianne adds  More posts on immigrants and ethnic presence in Rome include the Chinese (and other) shops near Piazza Vittorio, campaigns against immigrants, the Pigneto neighborhood, and even the lowly (or is it?) kebab.

Roman or Romanian? Will the true gladiator stand up?

We can't help but get a chuckle out of those guys hanging outside the Coliseum, persuading (amazingly enough, often successfully) tourists to pay to have their photos taken with them. Guess they're centurions, tho' everyone calls them gladiators, and, whatever, they add to the local color.

But this year they also added to the Roman/Romanian debate. Turns out there is territory to be protected and with tourism down, the pie to be divided is smaller. Today's Romans solicit business outside not only the Coliseum but other places, like Castel Sant'Angelo (Hadrian's Castle)--where the photo above was taken.

And, the Roman centurions decided it was un... well, unRoman, for Romanians to be horning in on their business. The Romanians were taking up positions outside Castel Sant'Angelo, leaving the Coliseum to the "Romans" (and how "Roman" are they, one could ask?).

All this can seem a bit silly, when Italians often complain the Romanians don't engage in legitimate businesses and um.... that they're not really "Romans". Romanians, on the other hand, claim a special tie to Rome, going back to Trajan (conqueror of Dacia, present-day Romania) and, of course, to their related Latin language. The tourists, of course, can't tell the difference.

So should we care? Let the games begin.

Dianne - for more on the Romanian immigrant presence, see Bill's post.