Writing assignment # 3 - MARKETS

The visit to the Esquilino Market was a very cool experience, and definitely eye-opening. I really liked going to this market because I had the opportunity to compare it to the other markets I have experienced. This is one thing that I have enjoyed so much about our experience here in Rome: the ability to compare things within our time here, and with experiences we have had back home. When we got to the market I didn’t notice much about it. I thought, ok here we are at another market, and it’s not anything special. Of course I thought it was really cool, but when we left the market and sat outside on the stairs to reflect on the experience we just had, I attempted some comparisons. I noticed that the people in this market were confined. They had their own spaces, but much more cramped than our market in Campo dei Fiori. It seems as if the people here were placed in a confined space to control them. This might be a good thing or could also be a bad thing. What I mean by this is that it’s good that all these vendors have an organized place to go and sell their goods, but they are also put in a confined area, maybe to control the “madness” or to stop expansion. I think that this “size-control” is a testament to themes I will get into later about race, and how many people really do rely on selling in marketplaces to survive in Italy.
That leads me to my next discussion topic: race. The majority of the people selling in this market looked like immigrants. They mostly all had darker skin. There were a lot of Italians of course, but they were the butchers for the most part. So this goes back to the problem of immigrants into Italy. Is selling in the market what a lot of these immigrants resort to because they cannot get another job, they are discriminated against, or just that selling goods is one of the only occupations they can hold in Italy? In discussing the market’s forced move from the piazza into the enclosed, “controlled” space, I think that this has to do with the immigrants. In my opinion, they moved the market in order to control the number of vendors, because the demand for selling goods in a marketplace is so high. This makes me think back to the market in Rome in Trestevere.
The Trestevere market is GIGANTIC. I walked around it for an hour and I don’t even think I saw half of it. It is huge. This is completely contrasting to the Esquilino market because Trestevere’s is way bigger, but is also an open market lining the streets, instead of confined within a building. I think that Trestevere’s market shows how this type of thing can get pretty out of control if not confined. There were even more immigrants or “darker skinned” vendors in the Trestevere market. I think the reason this one is bigger is because it’s less confined, and because of this, there are less immigrants. I’m not sure if this makes complete sense, but I think it is a comment on confinement, that there are fewer immigrants, and overall fewer vendors at the confined market in Esquilino. Is this other smaller market in Rome a comment to how Italy is trying to confine the work of the immigrants? Is this a good thing? I am trying not to look at the benefits of the control and organization of this market, but rather look at how this is a detriment to immigrants who might need the work that a market offers, but cannot get a spot or opportunity to sell because this market is now so confined.
Something else I noticed in this new market adventure is the difference in pricing from Campo dei Fiori. Everything is cheaper! This was not a complete surprise to me, however, because I know how tourist-oriented the Campo market is. There were also different stands at the new market. There was a lot of Asian and Indian influence, whether it is the vendors, or the types of shops. One thing I did do was walk outside of the walls of the confined market. I walked along the streets within a few blocks of the Esquilino market and noticed that pretty much every restaurant, clothing store, or any store in general was Asian or Indian. This was a big surprise to me. Is this Rome’s “China-town” or is it just a coincidence? Is it an International district? Are theses people segregated, or even assigned to this specific area? These are all questions I asked myself, and upon returning to the market, I realized the neighborhood’s influence on it. The market was essentially an extension of the neighborhood. It was also interesting to me that this area with every shop being foreign to Italy was so close to a very central area of Rome. I didn’t know that this area existed, so I was glad to be able to visit an area that was completely different from the Rome that I have experienced thus far.
While markets vary a lot in Rome, going to the Esquilino market was truly an eye-opening experience for me, and helped me realize aspects of the other markets I have visited that could be problems, or that could be better than the new market we visited.