Series | Diaspore
Monograph | Italy, Elsewhere
Chapter | 2 • Stazione Termini
2 • Stazione Termini
Abstract
Drawing on Michel Foucault’s definition of heterotopia, the article analyses the filmic and literary representation of Stazione Termini, Rome’s main train station. The Fascist architectural project, which mirrors an idea of the nation as homogeneous, monolithic, and white, begins to be challenged in the post- World War II representations of Termini which depict the station as the place where liminal and unexpected experiences can occur and accepted moral codes of behavior are put into question. The article then focuses on the recent representation of Termini as a key place of contact with and among immigrants. While migration literature describes the station as a place of belonging, other contemporary representations of Termini depict it as a non-place, revealing the fear of a globalized world. The representation of Termini either as an isolated place in the urban geography of Rome or as a place that mirrors the multicultural reality of present-day Italy highlights a tension between different ways of practicing the same space.
Submitted: Sept. 7, 2021 | Accepted: June 19, 2022 | Published Oct. 18, 2022 | Language: it
Copyright © 2022 Simone Brioni. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-625-1/002
