In a post-modern society an ancient concept of topography can’t describe the constant movement of a city and its derivations. This work tries to explore the disconnection between our apprehension of the city of Rome
and an hidden scenery made of liminal territories whose existence and identity are strictly connected to the community they host. In a paradoxical way, the community which inhabits these places preserved them from
being transformed trough an intensive real estate speculation into amorphous nowheres. They are communities made of out casters: gipsies, drug-dealers, immigrants, homeless, all kind of people rejected from the
society. It’s in these places hidden from the official topography that all these people can find a sense of belonging. Once these places disappear, once the territories are sold in order to build new buildings, the community will disappear with them. This work tries to catch the inner nature of these places before they will be gone for good.
Casilino 900 used to be one of these place. It was a big area in the suburb of Rome, squatted by immigrants from Sicily at the end of World War II. Slowly, after the immigrants started to get integrated to the society, the
zone was squatted by communities of gypsies coming from the former Yugoslavia and became one of the biggest gypsy camp in Europe, with more than 600 people living there (with no water, no public electricity, no
sewers). At the beginning of 2010 the municipality of Rome cleared out the camp, and the gipsy community was spread over the city, which means it cannot be considered a community anymore.
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In una società post-moderna l’antico concetto di topografia non è più adatto a descrivere il costante movimento della città. Questo lavoro cerca di esplorare la disconnessione tra la nostra percezione della città di Roma e uno scenario nascosto fatto di territori la cui esistenza e identità sono strettamente connesse alla comunità che li popola. Proprio la comunità che abita queste aree le ha preservate dall’essere trasformate, attraverso un’intensiva speculazione immobiliare, in luoghi amorfi. Si tratta di comunità di emarginati: zingari, spacciatori, immigrati, senzatetto, gente respinta dalla società che trova in questi territori sfuggiti alla topografia ufficiale un senso di appartenenza. Quando questi luoghi scompariranno, per l’incalzare della speculazione edilizia, la comunità scomparirà con loro.
