Urbanities,
Vol. 4
·
No 2
·
November 2014
© 2014
Urbanities
23
people) or
popolino
,
6
a derogative way of designating the proletariat. Thus they refer to the
mass of poor people who used to live in this rundown central city area and have now mostly
relocated in the suburbs.
I argue that the local authority, specifically the municipality, is currently aiming to
clean this urban space and make it more presentable for tourists and city dwellers; the aim is
to render the market a safer, more appealing and entertaining destination. This transformation
has been characterised by the standardisation of services and practices according to criteria set
out by organizations such as the European Union, when they provided guidelines not based on
local concepts such as tradition or proximity but on extra-territorial authority (Seremetakis
1994).
7
The ‘clean-up’ operation (
ripulitura
, in the words of people in the market) is a clear
attempt at urban gentrification. This process is apparent observing how the sensory experience
of the market has been affected. According to Degen (2008), bodily knowledge reflects social
changes and its analysis can shed light into the socio-cultural contexts of cities, contributing
to a deeper understanding of order, power, and control. The marketplace experience is both
synaesthetic and kinaesthetic, bringing senses and movement together. The moving subjects
engage with a totality of smells, sounds, consistencies, textures and tastes that follows
customers to their homes, into their kitchens and finally into their mouths. Le Breton (2007)
argues that it would make little sense to isolate one of the senses, because the phenomenology
of perception can only be holistic. He emphasises that it is not the senses that decipher the
world, but each individual embedded in a specific history and culture. It is in this sensory
Weltanschaung
that I place the marketplace and its overwhelming combination of
perceptions.
In the specificity of La Pescheria, the transition of the marketplace translates into a
shift in what is considered a culturally appropriate bodily knowledge. Distance,
standardisation and new hygienic standards convey a more private, secluded and ‘safer’
approach to food, which affects what is allowed to be perceived in an urban space. I will
proceed firstly by briefly describing the methodology of this research, then I will examine
why food marketplaces are still relevant in the discussion around urban contexts, highlighting
their cultural and economic significance and their contribution in addressing issues related to
public space. I also take into account approaches which argue that sensory experience is
fundamental to an understanding of our relationship to places. I will then describe the market
from the perspective of the sensory experience, drawing mainly on the reported experience of
smells, touch, and hearing. These three senses have been chosen, because they were the most
6
Pardo (1996) reviews the literature on the definition of popolino in his book about morality in
Naples, where the connotation was not as negative as in my fieldsite. See also Pardo (2012: 53n).
7
A consistent body of anthropological and sociological literature focuses on the role of European
Union regulations, perceived in juxtaposition to local traditions (Leitch 2003). The European Union
has introduced a body of regulations concerning food labelling, food production and fisheries. Italy, as
a European Member State is obliged to follow EU policies about food labelling and sustainable
fishing. Catania’s local municipality has been unable to impose these rules at La Pescheria, despite
recurrent attempts. The reasons of this failure will not be discussed here.
