The Italian Mafia. A highly feared criminal organization whose power is mostly unknown to the average citizen. Only seen in high-action movies such as “Good Fellas” and “The Godfather,” the real mafia’s to-do list is kept quite secret.
The one thing we do know is on its to-do list: garbage collection.
At first, it’s shocking to think that the busy and powerful Mafia would have time to deal with the garbage problem in Italy, especially in Rome. But looking closer into Rome’s dumpsters, maybe it’s not so shocking.
Back in the fall of 2021, I had the opportunity to study abroad at St. Thomas’ Rome campus, Bernardi, which led me to all different kinds of people in Italy, from an independent cheese factory high in the mountains to the vegetable vendors in the bustling Campo de Fiori.
Although these places were unforgettable and breathtaking, garbage lining the streets was also unforgettable and breathtaking, in a much different way.
When asking many people about Rome, one of the biggest characteristics they remember about the city is “dirty.” And with good reason. Rome is one of the dirtiest cities in the world. So much history, architecture and culture here is masked by the smell and sight of garbage.
Between the huge tourist population and many businesses and citizens residing there, Rome produces 1.7 million metric tons of trash every year. Malagrotta landfill was once the largest landfill in Europe and the only site dedicated to Rome’s garbage disposal, until it was closed in 2013. Now, there is no major dump site for Roman waste.
Most of Rome’s rubbish is shipped to other Italian regions or abroad. Only 40% gets collected separately and recycled. The capital exports 1.2 million tons of its garbage every year, at a cost of 180 million euros ($206 million). The remaining half-million tons stays uncollected for weeks.
Beyond waste collection, the Mafia is speculated to have control over the fish industry, music recording, real estate, pornography, restaurants, bars and even wind energy.
Michelle Tsai, writing in Slate, said, “The mob organizes the trash-hauling businesses in a given city to prevent competition from driving down prices. They fix prices, rig bids, and allocate territories in such a way that customers can’t choose who picks up their garbage.”
Poor waste management leads to global warming, air pollution, damaged ecosystems, contaminated and toxic waters and is a threat to many species. Landfills release the greenhouse gas methane, which is formed by microorganisms present in landfills from biodegradable waste. It’s no question what contributes to the unpleasant Roman aroma.
Rome’s permanent citizens are fuming over the trash issue. No one wants to live in a city that is nicknamed a landfill. Successive mayors have pledged reforms, but little to no work has been done by the government to solve this issue.
In 2016, Rome’s mayor-to-be, Virginia Raggi, campaigned on the garbage crisis as her primary issue, but during her time in office, the promises toward the garbage crisis seemed to disappear.
The newly-elected Roman mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, promised a clean city by Christmas. Cash bonuses were even offered to garbage collectors who worked holidays. Gualtieri ordered the repair of 300 garbage trucks and engaged in a deal with the northern city of Mantua to relieve Rome of some of its trash.
Unfortunately, the clean Christmas miracle never came.
Citizens grew more angry when a video of children playing by the trash piles and counting the number of rats they saw went viral. This was a further wakeup for the political leadership of Rome to take action, instead of relaying empty promises to the media to create a facade of care.
Despite all troubles with the trash problem, there are some solutions being put in place to help reduce Rome’s problem. The Roman recycling rate stood at 31% in 2010, but by 2019 Italy had achieved a recycling rate of 51.3%, which is one of the highest recycling rates in the EU.
Unfortunately, Italy has one of Europe’s lowest press freedom rankings, it was ranked 41 out of the 180 countries. Reporters Without Borders said that “Italian journalists are currently receiving round-the-clock police protection because of the intimidation, death threats and attacks to which they have been subjected, above all by criminal organizations and mafia networks.”
Especially in Rome, journalists have been both physically and verbally attacked. One upside to when the global pandemic hit in March of 2020 was that Italian journalists were able to work freely without violence.
In 2018, the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists published a report naming Italian journalists as receiving the highest number of threats in Europe. Shockingly, the Italian government contributed to this number.
Derogatory insults were thrown at journalists covering the corruption trial of Rome mayor Virginia Rabbi by two deputy prime ministers. Deputy Prime Minister Salvini took it a step farther by threatening to remove police protection for investigative journalists.
It is miserable to see one of the world’s most beautiful ancient cities littered in dog feces, bags of kitchen disposal, alcohol bottles upon alcohol bottles and mismatched, tattered shoes. Roman citizens are understandably furious, and on many of the internet’s travel bloggers’ articles, a top thing to know about Rome is that it smells and is dirty.
If nothing is left to be done with this issue, Rome will soon become its own landfill. It takes more than just the feared Italian Mafia to keep Rome clean — politicians, citizens, business owners, and tourists all have their own responsibility to look out for the city they love and the even more beautiful city it can become, before it’s too late. Moreso, the issue of advocating on this crisis is being silenced because of the poor free press voice of Italian journalists who are constantly put in danger while working a crucial job.
The Eternal City of Rome may become eternally tarnished with trash.
Macy Berendsen can be reached at macy.berendsen@stthomas.edu.