Alternative urban narratives. Telling the Esquilino districts of Rome through history traces and collective memories

Since at least three decades, the Esquilino district of Rome attracts media and scientific attention for its multi-ethnic connotations, the spread of illegal activities, and social/urban degradation. Due to the growing presence of immigrants and homeless people, the district is described as the meeting place of the city with the edges of the world, a sort of showcase of late-modern contradictions, the situated expression of the strong bond between globalization, international migration and new poverties. However, the district offers the possibility of being interpreted through many other perspectives, including those related to the main events of the contemporary history. For example, the Esquilino was an important place of the Resistance during the Nazi occupation (1943-1944), and it welcomed the first ruling class and the major offices of the Italian neo-State, after the transfer of the capital from Florence to Rome (1871). From the “stumbling stones” laid in the streets of the district to the arcades of Vittorio Emanuele’s square in Piemontese style, from the Museum of the Resistance (ex prison of the SS - Schutzstaffel) to the commemorative plaques on the facades of the buildings: the district tells relevant events of both national and world history. What does remains of that past in the experiences of the resident population? What memories, feelings, meanings are linked to those historical traces? How and when those traces operate? Is it possible to direct local memories towards transnational current issues? How to connect the local memory to the glocal present of the district? How to valorize the historical/cultural heritage of the Esquilino, beyond the above mentioned mainstream discourses? This contribution presents the first results of a research, funded by Sapienza University of Rome, aimed at answering these questions using qualitative methodologies, with the ultimate objective of proposing initiatives related (but not limited) to heritage tourism in the Esquilino district, with the active participation of both natives and immigrants.