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Walking
ethnic Rome
We will meet Saturday
27 November 2004 at 10:00
at the main entrance of the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore
(Piazza Santa
Maria Maggiore) (please
see map)
The walk will last about three hours
Pierpaolo Mudu
(University of Reading), Luisa Natale (University of Cassino) and Oliviero
Casacchia (University of Roma “La Sapienza”) will guide you
through one of the neighbourhoods most concerned and transformed by recent
immigration: the Esquilino district of Rome. This neighbourhood extends
around the Vittorio Emanuele II square (south of the Termini train
station) and comprises the following streets: Giolitti, Giobetti, Merulana
and Manzoni. The area around San Giovanni and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
are part of the Esquilino district. The Vittorio Emanuele II square
neighbourhood is the area of Rome, where the social and economic effects
of immigration are the most noticeable. The organisers expect colleagues
to contribute their specific point of view to the discussion.
The places touched by the
walk are: Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, Via Napoleone III, Via Principe
Eugeneo, Via Principe Amadeo and the new Vittorio square market in the
former barracks Pepe and Sani (Via Principe Amedeo, between Via Lamarmora
and Mamiani). The specific itinerary of the walk will depend on the
weather conditions.
Themes:
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Immigration
and the demographic, social and economic transformation of the
Vittorio Emanuele II area.
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The
economic impact of the Chinese and Bangladeshi communities with their
shops of clothes, fashion accessories and bijouterie, their services
for immigrants, like communication providers, grocery stores and
restaurants.
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The
perception of the Italian population of the presence of foreign
citizens and related problems
Immigration
in Rome
The
most recent official count (December 31, 2003) found 201,633 foreign
citizens in Rome amounting to an incidence of 70 per 1,000 inhabitants.
This information is based on population register data. The 2001 Population
Census counted 98,427 foreign residents, which corresponds to an incidence
of 40.0 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Whatever
source of data is taken into consideration, it becomes most obvious that a
great variety of nationalities are living today in Rome. The population
register of the city of Rome indicates that by far most foreign citizens
come from the Philippines (26,100), followed by Romania (17,000), Poland
(9,700), Peru (8,900), Egypt (8,600), China (7,200), Sri Lanka (5,900) and
Bangladesh (5,400). The report Foreign_Citizens_in_Rome_2003
by E.
D’Elia and R. Rosati from the Statistical Office of the City of Rome
(“I numeri di Roma” No.1 – January/February 2004) gives an extensive
overview of the most recent trends.
The recent report of the Caritas, based on information of the Ministry of
the Interior regarding permits to stay, puts the number of immigrants
in Rome at close to 300,000, with an important increase in the case of
Romanians (more than 56,000) and Poles (more than 16,000). According to
this report the number Romanian citizens are today the most numerous
foreign community in Rome.
Population
census, population register, recent elections of the adjunct municipal
council members for non-EU nationals and other estimates present similar
pictures regarding their socio-economic situation whereas quantities vary
considerably. But none of the available sources reflects perfectly the
reality of foreign citizens in Rome. Whatever the source it is certain
that the immigrants living in Rome represent many nationalities and
ethnicities. They come to study and to work and they have their origins in
poor and wealthy countries. Many gain their living in the tertiary sector
and in the services for the families, taking care of youngsters and of
elderly in the need of assistance. In recent years more and more
immigrants are living in Rome with their families, including young
children, posing new challenges to the social and educational services.
The Vatican and the many religious institutions in Rome are a further
explanation for the traditional presence of foreigners in the city.
Estimates made before the recent steep increase in the number of
immigrants and based on information regarding the permits to stay mention
the religious motive for one fifth of all foreigners.
The
different nationalities and ethnicities are perceived in very different
ways. Certain groups of immigrants in Rome are very ‘visible’, whereas
others are more or less ‘invisible’. As with their visibility varies
their image and how the Italian population perceives them. The immigrants
from wealthy nations like the European Union countries and the US are
living most often in the central parts of Rome and are integrated and
accepted. Many immigrants, predominantly women, working in private
households, like Philippines, South-Americans and Eastern-Europeans, are
only visible travelling to and from work and during their leisure time
when congregating with co-nationals in one of the public places around the
city. The same is valid for many immigrants working in the backrooms (kitchens)
of the service sector. Probably the most visible communities among the
immigrants in Rome are the Chinese and Bangladeshi shop owners in the
Esquilino district and more specifically the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
neighbourhood.
The
Vittorio Emanuele II square neighbourhood
The
three persons animating the walk worked extensively on the Esquilino
district and participated in a recent research project of the three Roman
universities on the historical, demographic and geographic aspects of the
city. (Morelli R., Sonnino E. and C.M. Travagliani (eds.), 2002, I
territori di Roma. Storie, popolazioni, geografie. University of Rome La
Sapienza, University of Rome Torvergata, University of Rome III.
Oliviero
Casacchia and Luisa Natale – The settlement of non-EU nationals in
Rome:
an analysis of the Esquilino neighbourhood
(Text in Italian).
The authors discuss the transformation of the Italian city centres due to
immigration with special reference to the situation in Rome. The authors
follow the rapid transformation of the neighbourhood over the last years
and its demographic, social and economic impact. The Philippines, Chinese
and Bangladeshi communities are discussed in detail.
Pierpaolo
Mudu – The inhabitants of the Esquilino: contributions to the debate
regarding the transformation of the Esquilino district from the 1970s to
2000 (Text
in Italian). The author gives a
historical overview of the district, its demographic and economic decline
and its revitalisation over the last years. The role of the Vittorio
square market, which is now transferred to a new home a block away, is
underlined. The neighbourhood was bourgeois in the 1950 and experienced
urban decay in the 1960s and 1970s due to population loss and the missing
tertiarisation of the area. The geographic pattern of the various economic
activities of the Chinese and Bangladeshi communities in 2001 is presented
in the form of two detailed maps (Figure 5 and 6 in the text) allowing
already for a comparison in time. Mudu documents in great detail the
social and political conflict the neighbourhood experienced in the 1990s.
These conflicts are systematically analysed based on newspaper articles.
Some interesting Links regarding foreign citizens in Rome, immigration and
the Esquilino neighbourhood
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