Assignment 6

"It’s all about location.” A common phrase used by many when describing the requirements for a good place to live. Prior to living in Italy, I seldom paid attention to the idea of “location” as a definitive fraction in the identity of a territory. Having the opportunity to research two Riones has allowed me to perceive the importance of territory, and the effect that factors such as the proximity to water or the demographics of the region have on the make-up of the personality of the Rione. My partner and I were ready to tackle on any Rione and were fortunate to be assigned to Regola. Due to unforeseen circumstances, my partner and I volunteered to take on a new Rione, Pigna. The beginning half of this assignment is an overview of the information and interviews that we were able to gather in Regola. The second half of is of our newly acquired information and impressions of the Pigna Rione.

 Regola, is the seventh district of Rome. After extensive research and interviewing at the wrong location, Piazza Navona, my partner and I discovered that we had been exploring our Rione all along! That is, Campo di Fiori is just on the outskirts of the Regola Rione. Regola or Rule is confined between the following boundaries: east of the Tiber River, south of the Parione Region (i.e. Piazza Navona area),  and  southwest of Campo Di Fiori. It is home to Piazza Della Quercia, Piazza Delle Cinque Scole, Piazza Farnese, and Piazza Capodiferro. Before delving into the couple of interviews that my partner and I conducted, I wanted to share a couple of facts.  Regola or Regula means sand. Floods during the middle ages deposited sand along the banks of the Tiber river. According to website sources such as www.romeartlover.it, Rule used to be an area where artisans and craftsmen of their respective areas had shops. An interesting fact is that the street names are still named after their respective field of work that took place there.

In our search for a resident of the Regola Rione, we went into local shops including a tobacco store and a shoe store but to our dismay we weren’t able to find a resident that lived near Campo di fiori. We had the chance to speak to Bill the chef. Who has been living near the Campo di Fiori for almost 20 years. He admits that it takes a while to adjust to the loud noise at nights. He mentioned that the residents whom used to reside in of Dr. Julie’s apartment at first had trouble sleeping through the noise. When they returned to the United States they had to tie cans to the tail of their dog to fall asleep! For Bill, Campo di Fiori is a convenient place to attain fresh fruit and vegetables. Although my partner and I found it difficult to interview a resident from our assigned Rione, I had the chance to make many observations of the neighborhood when walking to class in the mornings and when returning to my apartment in Trastevere. In the morning, the neighborhood is awake and lively. Children and youth are on their way to school, business owners are preparing for the day, construction workers are bustling away, the city maintenance team performs the first round of street sweeping (the streets are swept at least three times a day, it seems). At night, restaurants and bars open. On weekends, the extra narrow streets of Rule get jam packed with people and cars. Making transportation impossible and barely plausible by foot.

My first impression of Regola was the same as a tourist from Finland who described the Rione as “lively.” She referred to the Campo di Fiori as well as the neighborhood. She mentioned that the area offered “a variety of goods from fresh foods, clothing, and everything in between.” Although, she was passing through with a group of friends she had great interest in returning.

Pigna is the ninth district of Rome. My initial impressions of this Rione was that it contained a lot more history, ridiculous I know, but I am basing it on the physical presence of more famous landmarks (as compared to the Regola Rione). The area appears to be more commercial than residential. It is the quarters to the infamous Pantheon. My first visit to the Pantheon was during a class excursion to Piazza Navona as well as the Pantheon with Margaret Brucia. Iwas struck by its size and the archeological detail which seemed to radiate from the monument. From the information given in the lecture prior to the excursion, I learned that the Pantheon was a place where all gods were praised. It houses the largest dome made out of concrete! It has a remarkable opening in the middle called the oculus, a circular window to the sky, that makes for a beautiful image in times of rain. Pope Urban VIII ordered for the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon to be removed and melted for other purposes around the city, including the Vatican. I’ll be delving into the history of the Rione of Pigna in my Rione assignment.

For this assignment I focused on the Pantheon. From the visits I was able to make, I observed that it is visited by tourists during all hours of the day and night. On one particular night, while devouring a cone of gelato from Gelateria Giolitti (highly recommended, President Barack Obama had a serving from this gelato shop) with a group of friends. We couldn’t help but to hear two young ladies yelling at a man behind them. At first, we thought they had a little too much to drink and were in the middle of a quarrel. When paying closer attention we knew that wasn’t the case. The two young ladies were sisters and the man behind them was the husband of one of the two. In plain sight of the audience sitting around the fountain, the man raises his hand and slaps his wife. The sister in bafflement raises her hand and voice. In less than five minutes, the parents of the sisters arrive. The father was unresponsive to what the defending sister had to say about the situation. The mother, already angry, turned to her son-in-law and confronted him. The defending sister continued to describe what had occurred. I was surprised by her next move. She called on one of my friends and myself to defend her and explain what we saw. We both agreed with her and told our version of the scene to the mother. After intervention from an outside source, the father at last believed his daughters. Although he wasn’t as hostile as the mother, he made it clear that the man was to never to see his daughter again. After a quick conversation with the family I discovered that the couple were newlyweds who had been married for only two weeks. The family was from Venezuela and the ‘husband’ was Italian.

I realize the scenario I have described might be too invasive and graphic, but I feel it must be included within my impressions of the rione. For starters, I am grateful that it occurred in a public square and a popular one, at that. I was also able to recognize, witness, intervene and aid a victim of domestic violence. When I returned to my group of friends, I couldn’t help but to feel upset at the fact that the chances of the newlywed couple of ‘resolving’ the problem were likely and that the scenario would repeat itself. That night I replayed the scenario in my mind and asked, had the situation been different had it occurred in a place where tourists frequent less? The answer is unknown. Global issues such as domestic violence, feminism, and traditional familial and cultural values are heightened and emphasized in a foreign place. That was the first case of domestic violence that I heard about during my stay in Rome. I must admit that I am frightened by the silence. Are there resources and help from women and men seeking help?

The Pantheon is a place of history and an emblem to Rome. I am curious to learn more about the Pigna Rione and  the people that live, work and visit the area.