Topic: Write about what you think makes Roman and Italian identity. What are the myths around this identity? What are the social, cultural, and physical forces that shape this identity? Who belongs and who doesn’t belong, and why?
When answering what makes Roman and Italian identity, there are many ways one can approach this question. It is almost impossible to generalize such a diverse people. Yet through media there are many stereotypical myths surrounding the Italian people. Before coming to Italy, I could only assume the Italian culture from watching Under the Tuscan Sun, which romanticizes the Italian men and women and depicts the true beauty of Tuscany and Italy however did not show its imperfections as well. 2011 is the year marking Italy’s 150th birthday of becoming a country. Since the beginning of ancient Rome there have been multiple empires in power and many different people have occupied this land. Because of the mixture of immigrants coming from all over the world to Italy, the divide of north and south, and obvious differences in opinions, there is no clear answer for what makes Roman and Italian identity. However, from my observations of Rome the overarching theme of Roman and Italian identity ultimately is pride.
When asking to describe the social and cultural forces that shape the Roman and Italian identity they are difficult to distinguish from each other. The Italian pride for being “true” blood Italian is both social and cultural. Therefore although this country is becoming more and more diverse from immigration, culturally and socially there have always been immigrants in Italy. With the difficulty of becoming an Italian citizen almost impossible, there are many undocumented immigrants, who were born here, speak fluent Italian and their parents where born in Italy, but do not have citizenship. Unfortunately one can only be considered an Italian citizen if their parents are Italian. As the speakers from the G2 organization stated, if you are born in Italy (and have non-Italian parents) once you turn 18 you are considered an immigrant that has just arrived to Italy yesterday. Once you reach this age there are steps you must take to obtain residence cards, which are similar to visas. Some of the requirements include demonstrating a fixed income, applications to universities, having your date of birth, and where you were born. There is a surprising amount of 6 million Italy-born immigrants out of 60 million that do not have citizenship. Because of this rejection of non-citizen Italian born people in society, they have become outcasts in the only community they have ever known. The cultural factors are the stereotypes that “Pure” Italians label non- Italians and do not perceive these “others” well. Which is turn makes it more difficult to accepted socially in the community. Foreigners are not allowed to have public jobs or work in schools. The affects of these stereotypes unfortunately answer the question of who belongs in the Italian identity. The apparent Italian views support what the government has set, if you are “pure” Italian, than you are Italian. Culturally there have been certain images placed on how an Italian must look and act, they must have dark hair, light skin; they must have an Italian accent. However, unless you have the paperwork and walk the walk and talk the talk, you are not considered an Italian.
The physical force that affects the Italian identity is their pride for their history. From our Forum tour with Margaret Brucia, we learned how the forum displays Rome’s timeline from the beginning of all Roman history, starting with Levi, who was the first known historian in Italy’s history. As Margaret led us through the forum, she not only told the class what a structure’s name was, but how it looked in its prime. She described how time, illness, and pride could not only change buildings and people but also a culture. These conditions are what have shaped the Roman and Italian identity today. These effects can be seen throughout Rome and are exemplified through one of the multiple arches in the forum.
This arch was purely decorative and was constructed when a general was triumphant in battle. Most of the arches have stories or great emperors’ or generals’ names etched into the stone. On this particular arch there is a compelling story about the man mentioned in the sketch. It was about a general who had a brother whom he did not want to compete with and wanted to destroy. Inevitably killed him, however, he did not want to be remembered as a man who killed his brother so he decided to erase his entire existence. One way in which he was successful in keeping his pride was to take his brothers name from the arch and rewrite it. When reading the sketch, Margaret pointed out the holes that did not match up with the letters on the stone. With time, the true reading of the arch was legible and it is apparent that the brother attempted to erase his brother’s existence.
Unlike many cultures the Roman pride for their history is of the utmost importance. As a culture that is continuously modernizing economically and socially, importance still weighs heavily on historic pride and preservation. I recall a conversation with Stephanie and Anthony about the metro in Rome. She mentioned that the city has been working on expanding the metro for over 15 years, however, every time they find anything that resembles ruins, the construction is delayed for three years.
Consequently there are many ways in which you could answer the question what makes Roman and Italian identity, however from the brief time I have been able to observe the Italian people and Rome, pride seems to be the resounding echo when asked what makes these people who they are. This sense of pride is stemmed from the social, cultural, and physical forces that include the government and the difficulty of becoming an Italian citizen, the rejection of non-Italian citizens, and their historical pride for their ruins.
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