The other side of Rome: Homeless people in the Eternal City

Apart from the ancient monuments and great art, there is a side of Rome tourists would rather not see: the homeless. Some 7,000 people sleep on the streets of the Eternal City, 75% of them non-Italians, according to the city council. They congregate in the historic center and around railway stations.

The sad fact was driven home to me this winter, when a young man and woman took up residence on the front porch of a little church next to my apartment building. Every night they spread out cardboard beds, and in the morning they aired their blankets on the wall behind the Forum of Augustus.

My district has always had homeless people — familiar, seemingly harmless neighbors without a fixed address. But this couple had strikingly filthy habits and an antagonistic edge. Sometimes they cursed passersby and routinely left unspeakable debris on the stoop. I’m ashamed to admit that I was horrified — and a little frightened. A clerk at a nearby hotel told me the police couldn’t force them to leave and when social service workers approached them the couple refused help.

Later I visited the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul’s Within the Walls near Termini train station. For the last 17 years, it has opened its crypt to political refugees who come to Italy in the backs of trucks or the holds of boats from distressed places like Afghanistan, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Lacking legal documents, work and money, most of them sleep on the streets.

The day center gives them a place to rest and congregate. Volunteers teach English and Italian and provide information on where they can go for meals, beds, legal advice and medical care. Just as important, the center dispenses soap and toothbrushes and has bathrooms where they can clean up.

I watched the refugees — all young men — line up for the free toiletries, clearly anxious to make themselves presentable after a rough night on the streets or in a shelter. And I thought again about the homeless couple on my doorstep. Of course they were filthy. What else would they be without access to a decent bathroom?

— Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photo by: Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 10, 2009 at 1:38 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Europe, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.