Abstract
Pluralism, as a normative concept, refers to a moral response to the existential fact of diversity. With regard to the multiple religious affiliations and groups that populate Western societies, pluralism is intended to be a way of dealing with diversity (Giordan and Pace 2014) that consists of an active and positive embrace inspired by the idea of integration as opposed to segregation.
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Notes
- 1.
Religious pluralism is not to be confused with traditional Western tolerance . By definition, religious pluralism is the notion that all religions are equally valid as paths to God (Silk 2007).
- 2.
A peaceful coexistence of diversities can also rely on systems in which equal power is distributed among semi-autonomous communities, as in the millets system of the Ottomans studied by Fahy (2018).
- 3.
Reference to the evidence that emerged during the conference.
- 4.
Placemaking refers to the strategy by which diaspora and migrant religious groups relate to the urban space (Becci et al. 2016).
- 5.
As already established in the classic research by Chidester and Linenthal (1995), the occupation of space necessarily entails the negotiation of hierarchical relations of power in terms of domination/subordination, inclusion /exclusion or even appropriation/expropriation.
- 6.
In Italy, either the state or the regional and local (provincial and municipal) authorities have a voice in the process of regulating religious places in relation to urban planning. While, in the absence of an undisputed law, national jurisdictions include building and using places of worship within the rights of religious freedom, regions have specific competences in urban planning, and municipalities transform such frameworks into a concrete decision-making process. A recent juridical analysis of the complexity of the current situation is reported in Marchei (2017).
- 7.
As widely reported in the Italian national media, eight prayer rooms were closed and deemed illegal by local authorities in the summer of 2016, five of which were located in the area of interest for this study. The reaction from the Islamic communities involved was quite strong. As a sign of protest and to raise awareness of the issue of lack of adequate space, representatives of the Islamic community in Rome organised five consecutive Friday prayers in some of the city’s major squares, with a provocative finale: the jummah of October 21 was held in the square in front of the Colosseum. An intentional challenge to the city beneath one of its most emblematic symbols.
- 8.
According to data published by ‘Rome Council’ (Roma Capitale) in 2016, 13% of residents in Rome are foreigners. In the fifth and sixth Municipio (boroughs) the ratio of foreign residents reaches 16 and 17%, respectively.
- 9.
The estimate of different religious affiliations of non-Italian residents is deduced with statistic ponderation from the first 20 nationalities and should therefore be intended as an approximation that necessarily rules out the native population.
- 10.
We refer in particular to a series of roundtables with local religious leaders and representatives coordinated by CSPS researchers. The four meetings took place in Rome between November 2016 and May 2017.
- 11.
Tor Sapienza, part of zone 7C of Municipality V in Rome , covers around 2000 km2 and has a population of 12,700 including 1780 foreigners.
- 12.
Michele Testa came up with the concept of Borgata Tor Sapienza, which was founded along with the ‘Cooperativa Tor Sapienza dell’Agro Romano’ (Tor Sapienza Cooperative of the Roman Countryside) and existed between 1914 and 1922. It initially consisted of 25 houses, and was immediately followed by around one hundred others. The original district was therefore only a small agglomeration of houses that was subsequently consolidated in 1923 when a train station was built and the area assumed the form of a suburb (Goni Mazzitelli 2016). In 1923, it was officially opened and represented an experimental housing estate for families, with a water supply network, street lighting, a theatre and a market.
- 13.
Some of the most relevant factories in Rome for major Italian brand-name products, such as Peroni beer and Fiorucci salami, were established here and the area started attracting migrants from the south of Italy .
- 14.
The new plan for the public building sector was resized in 1965, and in 1971 the IACP (lex. 865/1971: Istituti autonomi per le case popolari/Autonomous Public Housing Institutes) were set up to accompany the deindustrialisation process. The first public housing estate in Tor Sapienza appeared at this time, between 1974 and 1979.
- 15.
In the 1990s, mass migration movements especially from Eastern Europe were accompanied by the opening of three Roma camps: Salviati I and II, Martora, where around 800 people lived at the start of the twenty-first century (Goni Mazzitelli 2016).
- 16.
In 1962, the first real plan for public housing in Rome (the PEEP, Piano per L’Edilizia Economica Popolare; Plan for Economic Housing Estates) was intended to offer new tools for programming and forecasting public building projects. It launched further expansion and a renewal of the periphery with an apparent rationalisation of the spontaneous process of urban growth. Yet the original goals were never achieved, making preexisting social ghettoisation even worse. Little or no improvement was made by the more recent attempt to requalify the area with green spaces, a park and a multipurpose sports complex. The ‘Studio di Fattibilità’, a plan devised by Ater in 2007 for promoting ecological recovery in the area, was also doomed to failure. The final attempt at regeneration was in 2013 with the project Re-Block in Urbact II 2012.
- 17.
Among these Orthodox churches, only the Sacred Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta (Sacra Arcidiocesi Ortodossa d’Italia e Malta) that belongs to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, has an agreement (Intesa) with the Italian state, established by law no. 126/July 30, 2012. URL: presidenza.governo.it/USRI/confessioni/intese_indice.html (03/2017).
- 18.
Interviews with Stefan Popa (3 June 2017, and 25 June 2018, translation by the authors).
- 19.
Interview with P. F. Mititelu (20 November 2018); interview with P. Ioan (3 July 2017).
- 20.
Interview with a parishioner at the St. Stephen Romanian Orthodox Church (25 November 2018).
- 21.
According to the church leader who was interviewed, the building that houses the church was occupied by homeless people and now shelters 200 people.
- 22.
Interview with the leader of Cristodinamica (4 June 2017).
- 23.
https://www.facebook.com/museoMAAM/ [accessed 6 June 2019].
- 24.
Interview with Gianfranco D’Alonzo (29 April 2018).
- 25.
This statement was uttered by Y.T. in many occasions, most recently during our visit with some American students (5 April 2018).
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Acknowledgements
We want to thank all our colleagues involved in the project, who helped us in the elaboration of this chapter: Luca Bossi for providing the data about diversity in Rome , Cristiano Cappellini and Gabriele Rizza for the interviews at Morandi block, Ilaria Eterno for the map of Morandi block and information about the architectural history of Tor Sapienza.
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Fabretti, V., Giorda, M.C., Vereni, P. (2019). Increasing Plurality and Neglected Pluralism: Religious Diversity in the Suburbs of Rome. In: Bock, JJ., Fahy, J., Everett, S. (eds) Emergent Religious Pluralisms. Palgrave Studies in Lived Religion and Societal Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13811-0_8
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