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By Root 500 0

of the Republic by the time I set to writing this book some years later. Residents would point with pride to the imposing building where he lived; a butcher, also a Communist, was especially proud of supplying such distinguished figures with prepared meats. Romano Prodi, then president of the European Union and twice prime minister of Italy, had lived in temporary quarters in a Residence almost directly opposite our house. An ironworker had been evicted from his home in the building where Prodi now resided. Monti, said he, is no longer for the poor! Even those not directly affected by the arrival of famous neighbors display an ambiguous mixture of pride and exasperation. One resident lamented that half the district had been taken over by rank outsiders-actors, politicians, prostitutes! Given Monti's ancient notoriety, his observation perhaps encapsulated a touch of perverse pride.

The process he described is that of gentrification-the upgrading of a rundown residential district. Those who have the wealth to purchase elegance pursue the new fashion for old houses, with disastrous consequences for lower-income inhabitants. Monti, at the core of Rome's historic center, is one of the last major complexes of centuries-old residential buildings to yield to the heritage industry, despite the presence of signature monuments of Western civilization-the Colosseum, the imperial Forums, the churches of San Pietro in Vincoli and Santa Maria Maggiore, and other architectural gems representing every phase of Roman history from the early Republic to the Fascist era. This historic center has become a UNESCO world heritage site. Cosmopolitan fashion now invests owning and inhabiting a piece of an allegedly universal history of civilization with irresistible appeal; the rhythms of daily sociability surrender to the commercialization of eternity. The newcomers may not be as uninterested in the district as these poorer residents imagine, and indeed have constructed their own social lives both within and outside its confines. Deepening class divisions have nevertheless created an unfortunate collective impression of disengagement and hauteur.

Those locals whose lives are now being ravaged by an epidemic of evictions are especially aware of the irony whereby those who displace them can proclaim themselves the guardians of a national heritage. The key term here is patrimonio-usually translated into English as "heritage" or "inheritance" and the central theme of official discourse of historic conservation. Like the English term "heritage," but with an added patrilineal emphasis,' patrimonio evokes notions of a material inheritance given in trust for future generations. Rome is not only a city rich in historical monuments belonging to Europe's civilizational past but is also the capital of a nation-state that has yet to complete the work of consolidating a national identity-a fact that throws into high relief the intense contrast between those who speak of a national heritage and those who instead emphasize their birthrights as Romans and indeed as residents of a particular neighborhood.`

Another term, civilty, conveys the lofty evolutionism usually associated with "civilization" in English and socially realized as urbanity. It is impressively cognate with "civility," which certainly forms an important component inasmuch as good manners make for easy social relations. But it only represents the civic virtues insofar as these also contribute to the maintenance of social calm and order. People sometimes become very uncivil when they think that their civic rights and responsibilities are being usurped.

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The idea of civilta is, for many Italians, part of their patrimonio as Europeans, as Italians, and as inhabitants of a particular city. Those who purchase a share in the historic center of a city such as Rome are claiming possession of a majestic civilizational status, one they contrast with the rough manners of the Roman working classes. For their part, the artisans, laborers, and small merchants who constitute the majority of the older