Vol. 17 No. 33 (2026): Precarious dwelling. Everyday practices, caring relations, and meaning-making processes
Articles

From Ferrarotti’s baraccati to Roma camps. The long wave of housing marginality

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  • Vincenzo Romania,
  • Tommaso Bertazzo
Vincenzo Romania
University of Padua, Italy
Tommaso Bertazzo
University of Padua, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/smp-17102

Published 2026-08-04

Keywords

  • Housing studies,
  • Romani studies,
  • urban studies,
  • Franco Ferrarotti

How to Cite

Romania, V., & Bertazzo, T. (2026). From Ferrarotti’s baraccati to Roma camps. The long wave of housing marginality. SocietàMutamentoPolitica, 17(33), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.36253/smp-17102

Copyright (c) 2026 Vincenzo Romania, Tommaso Bertazzo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Funding data

Abstract

Italy is sadly notorious in Europe as “campland”, as the nation that has created the largest and most systematic model of territorial segregation of Roma people within institutional camps. Most scholars have interpreted this phenomenon by using exogenous or abstract theoretical conceptualizations. In this article, we offer a different perspective by focusing on the internal factors of continuity between housing marginality and the rise of campi nomadi. We will focus on the case of Rome, showing how the intertwined phenomena of baraccati [shanty dwellers] and borgate ufficiali [institutional suburbs], studied by Franco Ferrarotti, played a major historical and sociological role in determining some of the characteristic aspects of camp governance. This perspective offers new insights for understanding and addressing the current challenges of social and housing inclusion of Roma people in Italy.

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