Evicted From Eternity_ The Restructuring of Modern Rome - Michael Herzfeld [140]
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Fine Art of Denunciation
by do Italian law enforcement officials seem to be perpetually demanding that citizens "denounce" each other? Language can be a source of unexpected shock effects, especially when one is trying to make sense of official practices. Sometimes the appearance of translatability, which arises from shared etymological roots, can produce hilarious effects: traf fico promiscuo, for example, means, not "promiscuous traffic," but a certain kind of mixed-function vehicle. Case abusive are houses that have been erected illegally; the phenomenon as a whole-which includes such misdemeanors as the illegal posting of advertisements and campaign materials and the equally illegal occupation of public land (occupazione del suolo pubblico) (usually in the form of a spread of restaurant and bar tables across expanses of sidewalk and picturesque squares such as that of Monti's piazzetta)-is comprehensively known as abusivismo; it is generally viewed as a systemic problem of Italian society.
Threatening though the denuncia sounds to English speakers (and often is for Italian speakers), it similarly has a rather different official significance: it is any formal statement-not even necessarily a negative one-made in one's own name to the authorities. (To be sure, it is highly unlikely that recourse to the authorities would ever be treated by Romans as an entirely neutral act. It is too uncivil. That is why, for example, the young man who turned on the loan shark preferred to avoid making-or at least admitting that he had made-a formal complaint, even though he did consider the arrival of the police at the crucial moment to have been a fortunate salvation.) Even the declaration about foreign residents or guests required of all householders under the antiterrorist laws comes under this category, which legally carries implications of a citizen's duty to keep the forces of law and order informed about any matter of official concern. It is also frequently, as it happens, a necessity for the victim as well. Insurance companies and other institutions bearing any liability toward a customer-such as a bank that has issued one's checks, for example-will only pay compensation for theft or damage if the denuncia has first been made to the appropriate police force.
The Logic of Denunciation
The denuncia is also hedged about with a complex set of prohibitions and limitations, ostensibly products of a concern with fair play but practically the cause of considerable obstructionism. A former student and present colleague and her husband visited my wife and me in Rome. When they were leaving the station for Austria, a thief snatched her bag. Somewhat sluggishly, a railway employee found a policeman, who directed us to the appropriate office in the station (and also claimed that functionally it would make no difference whether the report was submitted to the police or to the carabinieri). When I arrived at the office and revealed that I was a British citizen, I was told that I must make the denuncia in English, not Italian; and when it transpired that I was not the victim, but only a mere witness, I was told that in fact I had no right to make a denuncia at all! Since my colleague was now on her way to Austria, she should now make a denuncia