Diversely Global Rome - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 11

The inherent internationalism of the papacy has been transformed into a
veritable Roman mediascape (appadurai 1990; Vereni 2012) that during the last
two decades of the twentieth century further globalized the image of the eternal
City. The role of John paul ii in taking advantage of media to produce a truly
global representation of the Chair of saint peter can hardly be overestimated.
with Karol wojtila, Rome took up the challenge imposed by the global media
system and secured itself a prominent position on the world stage (Dayan and
Katz 1992; mazza 2006). a pontiff who—in order to travel and become a “citi-
zen of the world”—leaves the isolated Vatican and its persistent aura of the past
inevitably carries with him the icon of the city itself, contributing to its further
popularization worldwide. The Da Vinci Code genre that now floods bookstores
around the world (more than 2,200 titles labeled “religious thriller” at amazon.
com) would not have been possible without the symbolic and imaginary support
of a mysterious, ancient, and vibrant religious center such as Rome. You need
New York if you want a president killed by international terrorism or economic
lobbies, but you need Rome for an enigmatic murder that takes the reader to the
mysteries of templars or other sacred sects which still rule the world!
in brief, Rome is not only a system of economic interrelations or a knot
in a hierarchy of world cities. in this symbolic and imaginary respect, Rome is
first of all an icon, a brand, and a globally famous one. when boston executive
Thomas Di benedetto purchased nearly 70 percent of Roma football club, he was
quite aware of the symbolic relevance of the city to launch his business: “Rome is
known for its culture, history and food and that brings a lot of people here,” Di
benedetto said. “we want those people to also enjoy football. and we want them
to become fans of our team, so that when they go back to their own countries they
will be followers and supporters.”1
immigration: The pulls and flows of the City
one very concrete way in which Rome is globalizing from within is due to in-
creasing immigration. During the last thirty years, Rome has undergone a pro-
found and vast change. The former pilgrims have become resident immigrants,
and now more than 10 percent of its approximately three million inhabitants are
foreigners. in some neighborhoods, they make up more than 30 percent. This is a
tremendous change in a very short time for the capital city of a nation-state that
reached a positive migration balance only a few decades ago.
Yet the ties between this new immigration and the “big” economic processes
worldwide are much more complex and entangled than is recognized in global
city theories. while in london or New York the newcomers work for the trans-
national elite of the global corporations or as unskilled labor in the service sec-
tors, in Rome there is not much of a global corporate elite for foreigners to work
for. many are still employed (like italian immigrants in Rome during the first