On one of my first trips into Rome from the airport, I noticed from the train a filthy encampment of broken down trailers and makeshift shacks; there were naked children playing in the dirt next to some overflowing outhouses. I was shocked that this kind of poverty existed in the Italy of Gucci and Prada. Upon my arrival in the centre of Rome, I saw children just like these dressed in rags jostling newspapers in front of unsuspecting tourists while other kids picked their pockets – a mom was begging pathetically outside a nearby church. It was the middle of a weekday; these kids should have been in school. A friend told me that these were these were gypsies – the Roma – those elusive folks who might look into a crystal ball and tell your fortune – but how did things get this bad?
The Roma or Romani people are thought to have migrated from northern India nearly 1,000 years ago and have been present in Italy since the renaissance – indeed one of Caravaggio’s most famous works hanging in the Capitoline Museums depicts a Roma woman reading a young man’s palm as she deftly slides the ring off his finger. But in addition to their reputation as being less-than-trustworthy, the Roma are also known for their rich culture and music (and indeed gypsy bands can still be heard performing a rousing folkdance in Campo de’ Fiori some evenings).
In recent years, with increased migration from Eastern Europe and the entrance of Romania into the EU, the Roma population in Italy has swelled. The country is now home to roughly 150,000; most live in squalid ‘campi nomadi’ on the outskirts of the city, without running water other basic services, (although there are some wealthier camps where Mercedes-Benz and other nice cars can be seen outside the dwellings). The eyesore camp I encountered on my way from the airport has now been moved behind a hill, out of sight of the airport train. But many more camps exist on the outskirts of Rome without even basic services.
To say the Roma people have been marginalized in Italy is an understatement: they live on the fringes of a prosperous society without any hope of education or legal employment. Some are involved in rackets like collecting money to “watch” your car in a free public parking area, which strangely, the police do not seem to mind. In recent months, however, Rome’s newspapers have become filled with alarming stories about the Roma. In Naples this year, one camp was recently burned by an angry mob after a rumour spread that a Romani woman had tried to steal and Italian baby (the urban legend about gypsies stealing babies is widespread and repeated to young mothers here by just about everyone).
While the EU takes a closer look at the situation for Roma people in Italy, their situation is not likely to improve. And amid all the tough talk of Rome’s new city Government, tourists are still bound to encounter little scamps with quick hands in city squares and train stations. But ultimately it is the city and national governments themselves that must come to grips the simmering crisis of a marginalized cultural minority precariously existing under their bridges, in their junkyards, around the rough edges of la dolce vita.
An interesting video tour of a Roma camp including interviews (in Italian) with its residents, can be found HYPERLINK "http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TyOigLtVHDk&feature=related" here.