Evicted From Eternity_ The Restructuring of Modern Rome - Michael Herzfeld [0]
EVICTED FROM ETERNITY
The Restructuring of Modern Rome
MICHAEL HERZFELD
FOR STANLEY J. TAMBIAH
who insisted I did this first, with gratitude and affection
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Overture: Encountering the Eternal City I
i . Sin and the City 7
Genealogies of Imperfection 8
Monti: Paradoxes of Poverty 9
Sociable Spaces 14
Meeting the People 15
The Village in the City 17
Agonies and Agonistics 22
The Cadences of a Cultural Preserve 27
2. Popolo and Population 39
The Artisans 39
The Shopkeepers 47
Intellectuals and Politicians 49
3. The Wages of Original Sin 53
Accountability and Accommodation: The Pragmatics of Original Sin 53
Original Sinners or Elder Brothers? 57
The Dialectics of Casuistry and Tolerance 61
A Passion for the Past 67
4. Refractions of Social Life 75
Segmentation and Subsidiarity 76
The Civic and the Civil 79
Association Life 85
The Premises of Conflict 89
Theaters of Piety and Peculation 101
A Clergy Scorned 110
S. Life and Law in a Flawed State 115
Laws and Regulations 115
The Limits of Law 118
The (Disreputable) Origins of Legal Loopholes 122
Indulgent Complicities 128
Forgiveness and Calculation 133
Sacred Images and Sinful Spaces 140
6. Scandals of Sociability 143
Friends Who Strangle 143
The Cultivation of Fear 147
Restitution and Redemption 151
Friends Best Avoided 159
A Family Friend? 162
Local Narratives: Swaggering Victims 165
Credit and Default 167
Banking on Fear 172
Tactful Silences 175
7. Extortionate Civilities 181
Accommodations Civil and Civic 182
Discommoding Complicities 183
Uncivil Pleasantries, Unpleasant Civilities 187
Culture and Custom 19o
Peaceful Politics 195
Condominial Civilities 198
Lessons in Civic Civility 212
Spatial and Stylistic Violence 214
8. The Fine Art of Denunciation 219
The Logic of Denunciation 220
Performances of Policing 227
Fractured Authority: The Multiplicity of Policing 234
Extorting Coffee and Campari 238
9. Tearing the Social Fabric 253
Renters and Owners 253
Lawyers and Illegalities 257
Eviction and Evasion: The High Stakes of Time and Place 263
Gentrification and the Last Frontier 266
Endgame 296
Coda: The Future of Eternity 301
Notes 313
References 343
Index 357
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
his book is the labor of a love deepened by the realization that Rome, despite its magnificence, is also splendidly, sometimes tragically, a place steeped in all the weaknesses of the human condition. My parents first took me there when I was a schoolboy and marked my life with a passion for this extraordinary place that has only grown with the years. I have tried to convey this powerful affect, along with the Romans' salty humor and gorgeous architectural frenzies, their harsh social realities and their warm gregariousness, the appealing fragility of their lives and the towering strength and self-confidence with which they meet its disappointments as well as its excitements. Monti, the sector of Rome about which I write in these pages, welcomed me to a world strongly marked by these human dimensions. No anthropologist, no scholar-indeed, no sentient human being-could ask for more of any place.
In the work that is laid out here, many people played their parts. Lists are invidious and someone is sure to be omitted, simply because there were so many who enthusiastically supported my project; and because so many of the conversations I had with them continue to this day, sometimes briefly interrupted, but always insistently returning to the themes of a shared passion. A few people nonetheless made especially sustained efforts, and I want to record my appreciation of their counsel, insights, and support: Loredana Acca, Paolo Berdini, Carlo Cellamare, Adriana Goni, Luigi Lombardi Satriani, Berardino Palumbo, Andreina Ricci, Paolo Sciar- roni, Riccardo Troisi, and the entire Valeri family (Vincenzo, Francesco, Andrea, and Paola). Certain colleagues also offered helpful advice on specific technical questions; these include the economist Ricardo