Dog Parks, Cat Sancturaries, and the Darker side of Roma

ciao!

Massive update time. Im going to keep this relatively short for both our sakes.


The urban fabric of Roma is a very interesting thing to study, and through the study of it these last two weeks I have found that the way people use the space can be categorized into one of three areas, the Dog park, the Cat Sanctuary, or the Dark side.

Title I: Cat Sanctuaries
We will start off with the Cat Sanctuary. This is the entry level tourist destinations of Roma. The forum, the coliseum, the pantheon, the hills, st. peters, etc, etc..... These are the areas that everyone that comes to Roma for a week spends all their time running to and from in a desperate attempt to see all 874 churches, 1923 temples, and 273 random unexplainable ruins. Its what people think of when they hear Roma. This is the first level of Roma, and these are the places that the cat population of the city live.

a cat and ben in a villa

a coliseum

Title II: Dog Parks
Unlike the Cat Sanctuaries the Dog Parks are for the residents to experience. These are the spaces that were at one time magnicifent and enriching to view by said resident but have now become a park that they use to get outside and walk their dogs. Examples include Castel San'Angelo, the Circo Massimo, and the Villas. This is the outdoor spaces that the local use to run and relax.

a church

a villa

Title III: The Darker Side
And then there is the dark side of Roma. This is the lowest level for people. And it cannot be defined by place, but instead by person. It is the umbrella sellers that will sell you an umbrella for 15 cents just to feel like they are making money, its the street preformers, its the Romas, the beggers, the thieves. This is the most interesting part of Roma, and I will now elaborate.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit a Romas camp, which is the proper term for Gypsies. I had no idea what it was going to be like, all we were told was that they were celebrating something similar to christmas eve for them and that if we wanted to join we could shuttle outside the city to their camp. Now after being lost for quite some time we finally arrived and found that their camp was situated on the empty space between an on ramp and the highway. It was small, it was full of trailers, and the best house was run off a generator only at special occasions. But it was their home. Now Im not going to give you a history of the Romany people but I really would encourage you to look it up, its facinating stuff. Basically they are nomadic, and this group hails from Uzbekistan. They are squatters and have no rights to their land, unlike in the US. If the government gets sick of them, then they have to pack up and leave.

Their way of living is very family based and they are not accepted by the general Italian public. Though they get public education they are looked down upon. Their jobs are begging, and selling scrap metal. They are wonderful.

These people welcomed all 10 of us into their small house (read:shack) and sat us down to what is likely the most amazing meal I have ever eaten. In the traditional italian fashion the table was covered with small plates all holding a seperate dish and it was a free for all to eat. Personally, I started of with a very olivy salad, then I had a rice/fish wrapped in cabbage, then I had a cheese platter, then some bread, then some for of meat... then sauteed eggplant and zuccini, followed by more questionable meat, after that I had another rice roll (very good), and then we started the main course which was a sort of pork roast with another form of bread, followed by a shot of cafe (coffee) and a desert breag which was raisins and cake like. I was very full. Afterwards we had a dance party in one of their bedrooms to the sound of american popmusic which was the only english any of the spoke. Then we attempted to socialize until we realized with missed our train back to the city and had to get back another way. There was about 15 people from two families that are with us and they were wonderful. Ferro (one of our profs) said after we thanked them profusely that this was a wonderful gift to them, the gift of having people care enough about them to celebrate a holiday with them. I guess sometimes just knowing people are aware of your existence can be the greatest feeling. We departed with everyone smiling and promises to come again. It was a beautiful night.

That is the darker side of Roma, and in my opinion, its far more beautiful than and 2000 year old ruins could ever be.