Torpignattara/Banglatown - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 71

to each other, and eating gal muori or spiced fluffy rice, sold on the streets by their
compatriots.
Not far away, the old trattoria Da francesco, with its austere look, reassures
the old residents that change has not yet swept away all their memories and sends
out a message of authenticity to the new italian residents who seek out “the old
Rome.” They are supplemented by the Roman trattoria betto e mary, a temple of
“Roman-ness” in the Villa Certosa area, and the signorini pastry shop, which,
because of its sign “founded in 1931,” evokes a historical authenticity that needs
no comment. but the nearby punjabi bar and the indian-italian restaurant offer
a glimpse of hybridity that makes the original residents feel disorientated and
conjures up a very multicultural scenario for the others.
There remain a few somewhat seedy bars, meeting points for elderly men
of outmoded appearance, and a few gambling clubs, evidence of what was an
unlawful activity in the past. everywhere the mobile telephone shops, interna-
tional forwarding agencies, and internet centers connect the busy lives of others,
while on the roofs of the houses (even the most fragile edifices) a forest of satellite
dishes make one think, as appadurai (1996) has written, of the forces that drive
“the work of the imagination” toward many people elsewhere, toward other “cen-
ters,” sought out and reproduced in domestic scenes far away from an old district
in the outskirts of Rome.
torpignattara has a lively social life: there are numerous bangladeshi associ-
ations that print magazines in bengali, while the local neighborhood committee
promotes cultural initiatives and projects for improving quality of life.14 There
are also a local newspaper, two parishes, and the headquarters of various parties.
During the years preceding bangladeshi immigration, the media used to re-
fer to torpignattara in disparaging terms, owing to local crime in Rome that was
linked to the “marranella gang.”15 but it was after the arrival of the bangladeshis
from the mid-2000s that the media began to portray the district in terms of con-
flict and intolerance. in april 2007, for example, torpignattara was shaken by
news reports on the difficult relationship between the original inhabitants and
the bangladeshis. The murder of a bangladeshi man by a sardinian, arising out of
a quarrel in a condominium in the alessandrino borghetto, provoked discussion
and demonstrations on the dangers of racism.16 more recently, the media have
reported a number of incidents of violence against bangladeshis, carried out in
torpignattara by “original” inhabitants.17 all these episodes were reported by
the media in terms of racial aggression, thus suggesting a bleak urban scenario,
brought about by problems of coexistence, which were presented as typical of the
entire area.
torpignattara was back in the news again in 2010 with an article in La Re-
pubblica that raised the specter of a suburb in danger. according to the article,
the influx of bangladeshis into torpignattara was putting a strain on the com-