Diversely Global Rome - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 13

“i chose Rome because it is easy to find a little work here even though we
do not have the right permit. staying here as illegal immigrants is easier than in
other major european cities, while we wait for the next amnesty that will allow us
to stabilize our position.” as italy started to receive a slowly growing number of
immigrants from the late 1980s, the italian government faced the issue without a
clear policy, preferring instead to address it as an “emergency,” a classical theme
of italian politics. since then, at least four different amnesties have regularized
the position of 1,200,000 foreign workers who had entered without proper docu-
mentation. During the 1990s, many people came to Rome precisely because they
knew that sooner or later their illegal position would be regularized. This is cer-
tainly one of the main reasons for the considerable size of the bangladeshi com-
munity in Rome, now one of the largest in europe. by word of mouth, the first
bangladeshis informed their relatives and compatriots that it was not impossible
to find work in the gray market for a while, waiting for the next sanatoria (a m-
nesty). migrations organized by informal but highly structured agencies, such as
the bangladeshi and Chinese networks, took advantage of the loose-knit italian
law to settle with remarkable ease. in this case, the economic motivation was
further caused by a political one.
“i wanted to come to Rome because it's the capital of a country i know and
have many connections to.” This argument is held by foreigners from differ-
ent countries with different stories; from somalis to albanians who have past
colonial ties to italy; from moroccans to tunisians who have always had close
contacts with the italian geographic space. The arrival of many Romanians af-
ter the admission of their country to the european union was also determined
by motives that are “cultural”: Romanians and moldovans are the only slavic
people speaking a Romance language and the link with Rome and the at least
imagined italian culture persisted even during communism. from January 2007,
Romanian citizens were entitled to travel freely across the european union, but
many of them chose to settle in italy, and they are now the first foreign national
group in Rome, 21.6 percent in December 2011 and constantly growing (+10.7
percent compared to 2010) (Caritas 2011). This perception of closeness might not
be shared by Romans themselves.
if a mixture of cultural, symbolic, and economic factors has played a rel-
evant part in determining the most recent flows of immigrants to the city, strictly
political and historical causes have strengthened the foreign presence for much
longer. Rome is the capital of italy, and as such, it is home to embassies from
around the world. at the same time, Rome hosts a formally autonomous state
within the city limits, the Vatican. This independent and sovereign entity enter-
tains diplomatic relations with many countries, with the result that Rome holds
the world record for number of embassies. moreover, since 1951, Rome hosts the
united Nations' food and agriculture organization with 191 member nations,
each with its own delegation, offices, and personnel. Very few cities in the world