GIANNI DOMINICI
In 1935, the installation in San Lorenzo of the Università La Sapienza gave its definite character to this troubled area, making it an academic and artistic neighborhood. This shaping gave San Lorenzo an anarchic, revolutionary and union-organized profile, getting known as the rosso (“red”) neighborhood of Rome where Mussolini’s fascism found more resistance. For this reason, it was only logic that the Nazi occupation showed no mercy with San Lorenzo, relentlessly bombarding it in 1943. That action resulted on more than three thousand casualties and buildings that remain in ruins as silent witnesses of the war until today.
ANTI MUSSOLINI, PRO PASOLINI En 1935, la instalación en San Lorenzo de la Università La Sapienza daría el carácter definitivo a esta agitada zona, convirtiéndola en un barrio universitario y artístico. Esta configuración social dio a San Lorenzo un perfil anárquico, revolucionario y de organización sindical, siendo considerado el barrio rosso (“rojo”) de Roma y en donde el fascismo de Mussolini encontró mayor resistencia. Por lo mismo, se entiende que la ocupación nazi se ensañara con San Lorenzo, bombardeándolo implacablemente en 1943. El resultado de eso fueron más de tres mil muertos y edificios que hasta hoy permanecen en ruinas como mudos testigos de la guerra.
With this historical background, it was expected that the student riots of the 70s were led from this neighborhood. In addition, important representatives of Italian counterculture, such as the filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, worked and lived in San Lorenzo. The Pommidoro restaurant, a classic of the local cuisine and fully operational until today, was the favorite place of the author of the controversial film Saló. The taste of a pappardelle –a fettuccini-like pasta, but wider- accompanied with wild boar or pig porchetta –a ham sandwich with roasted spices and grilled in its own skin-, gave birth to some of his most important creations. Some of them are still exhibited in Nuovo Cinema Palazzo, an old movie theater that still stands thanks to the organization of the neighbors who gathered signatures and promoted a cultural center, preventing the installation of an arcade. And what started as the recovery of a place to watch movies became a community movement, which today promotes San Lorenzo’s identity through the dissemination of its history and its art.
Con estos antecedentes históricos, era de esperar que las revueltas estudiantiles de los años 70 fueran encabezadas desde este barrio. Además, importantes representantes de la contracultura italiana, como el cineasta Pier Paolo Pasolini, hicieron de este barrio su lugar de creación y residencia. El restorán Pommidoro, un clásico de la gastronomía sanlorenzina y en pleno funcionamiento hasta hoy, era el predilecto del autor de la controversial película Saló. Al sabor de unas papardelle –pasta tipo fetuccini pero más ancha- acompañadas con carne de jabalí o de porchetta –sándwich de cerdo con especias y asado a las brasas en su propia piel-, dio vida a algunas de sus más importantes filmes.
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