Romanians, the Ephemeral Ants of the Eternal Citadel

There are at least three places in Rome where a Romanian that arrives for the first time in the Italian capital can feel like home: on the pavements in front of the construction materials’ warehouses, in the soup kitchens in which the Italians offer food for free and a place to sleep and on the hallways of the office where the immigrants complain about their working conditions.

This is because Romanian can be heard loud and clear from the left or from the right, from men, women, from young people or old people. Early in the morning, the Romanians that arrived in Italy illegally stay in line in front of the construction warehouses and look for locals that want to renovate their homes. They are a lot. "There were 150 of them this morning. Now, at ten o’clock only few of them haven’t left and are still looking for Italians interested in several workers!", Florin, a veteran of illegal working in the Palmiro Togliatti area, says.

THE IMMIGRANTS’ OFFICE. This is where the not so happy Romanians come. The Italians come, get off their cars, take a tour of the Romanians, start talking to "the more interesting of them", ask them about experience and so on, and the ones that make good impressions get to have money to live "a week, a month, a few months at most, depending on the work". A workday means 50 to 60 euros for the more experienced ones and 35 to 45 euros for the normal workers. It is a matter of luck. There are cases in which Romanians wait for an offer for weeks. Florin left the country five years ago, worked here and there, his family is back home, he sends money whenever he can, and he has been looking for a job offer for the last two weeks. His friend, Marin, is in the same situation: the family is in the country, fluctuant money, and he has worked for a person who "forgot to pay him" recently. He is waiting for a new job offer. Catalin, another member of the group, has a somewhat different biography: he is 19 years old, he was a Gardner for a few months and it was ok. No news about the future… Di tor di Quinto is an area similar to the one mentioned above: construction materials and Romanians looking for job offers.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Somewhere near the Termini train station, near a fence, a Bulgarian and several Romanians have a little agreement: the Bulgarian takes out the haircutting machine and takes care of the Romanians’ hair that pay him 2 euros. They leave. The Bulgarian goes on, the Romanians sit on the ground and analyze him. "Look, here, we eat for free. The Pope is giving us food. We come here each Monday night and get stuffed. There are also places for us to sleep, but we are allowed to do it only three weeks each year. We try to get over this. During wintertime, they bring several trucks for us to sleep in. In the summertime, we have to manage ourselves. They are a group of ten, two of which are women. They are dirty, the smell of booze can be easily felt. They don’t say the reason for which they came in Italy. Two of them try to offer us food. There is an extremely kind Italian at the door, as well as the cooks and the cleaning ladies inside. Everything is extremely clean, the cooks are interested in everyone’s wishes. All of them smile. They are all extremely quiet when they eat. In the end, they get up and take their trays to the right place. Everything is still clean. Alberto, the canteen administrator (called Caritas Diocenesa) says the Romanians behave nicely. That’s all. We go outside. Some of them continue talking to us. They are asking about the camera: "What are its features and costs?" I wonder why.