Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
are the consumers of mass tourism, served by low-cost airlines whose flights have
increased at an exponential rate in the last decade. The change in the tourist type
ensures that the sharp rise in numbers is not directly reflected in increased rev-
enue. mass tourists do not have a high spending capacity and their spending
patterns favor commercialized products rather than characteristic local goods
(montanari and staniscia 2010, 309). today's visitor can enjoy a historic center
that has been protected from modern development. The traffic may be chaotic,
but many of the monuments are close enough to walk between, so the lack of
transport infrastructure is less problematic. specially chartered tourist buses can
also ensure that the delays and overcrowding regularly endured by local residents
on public transport are avoided. it has been estimated that the daily quota of
tourist buses circulating in the center of Rome is the equivalent of 12 km long
(berdini 2010, 327).
Rome's popularity in the global cultural marketplace was further demon-
strated by the Colosseum being nominated one of the seven New wonders of
the world. between 2001 and 2007, in a widely publicized global campaign, one
hundred million people voted for seven contemporary monuments to rival the
ancient list. The Colosseum was elected (the only european monument) ahead of
the Giza pyramids and the parthenon, which failed to make the cut.6 once the
haunt of the rich, Rome now belongs to everyone. it has become one of a handful
of cities that people feel they have to experience at least once in their lives.
whose past?
early photographs taken in the mid-nineteenth century show a Rome which had
a very different relationship with its population. in these pictures, local people
are hanging out their washing on a temple in the Roman forum and buying
their bread from a baker who has set his oven into the wall of the forum of Ner-
va, presumably taking advantage of the fact that these thick Roman walls also
functioned as firebreaks. texts from this period and earlier speak of local people
living in the arches of the Colosseum, in the attic stories of triumphal arches,
and in old aqueducts (higgins 2012, 209-214). before Rome became the capital
of a united italy, the relationship between the city and its inhabitants was inti-
mate and unquestioned. when Rome became the nation's capital, its heritage had
to symbolize the grandeur of italy and, therefore, clearly there was no place for
washing lines, bakeries, or squatters.
The marginalization of local people that began with the Risorgimento was
rapidly accelerated under the fascist plan to modernize Rome. large areas of
housing were pulled down in order to isolate the monuments, and the residents
were forcibly evicted to the periphery. from the postwar period up to the present
day, inexorably rising prices have continued the work of mussolini's jackboots;
local people have become economic migrants in their own city as wages have
failed to keep up with increased living costs. The past that is presented today in
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