Social Centres
Squatting in Rome

Protest against the closure of Horus Club on 23 october 2008

Social centres are abandoned buildings – warehouses, factories, military forts, schools – that have been occupied by squatters and transformed into self-managed cultural and political hubs, explicitly free from both the market and state control.

By Alessandro Mirra

One of the many law and order campaign pledges by Gianni Alemanno, the centre-right candidate for Rome City Hall, was the closure of the capital’s social centres. Alemanno won the election and on 21 October 2008 police raided the historical squat at the Horus Club in piazza Sempione in the northern quarter of Montesacro. The squatters were evicted and the centre closed down.
The raid on Horus reopened a long-running controversy in the capital. Supporters say the social centres are a vital source of cultural activity for the community. Many of the centres organise concerts, film screenings, theatre and dance events, evening classes, language courses and a host of other activities. Opponents view them as dangerously unregulated and, simply, illegal.
Undeniably, most of the social centres in Rome are still squats, abandoned buildings occupied illegally. Squatters and all those who use the centres defend them by pointing out that rents and property prices in Rome are so astronomical that without occupation these hugely popular cultural meeting places would be impossible.
The origins of these centres go back to the mid-seventies when squatting movements mushroomed across Western Europe: in Spain, Holland, Britain, Denmark, Sweden – even strait-laced Switzerland – and in many other countries abandoned buildings originally occupied to provide accommodation for the homeless and unemployed were rapidly transformed into cultural and community centres. In Italy these non-profit, self-governing social centres decided to form a loose umbrella association to coordinate and strengthen their activities, grouping themselves as 'Occupied Self-Managed Social Centres' (CSOA).

Forte Prenestino was a military fortress in the 19th century that was abandoned in the 1960’s and has been occupied since May 1986. It is one of the largest and most active social centres in Italy.
Sprawling over some 13 hectares in the outlying working-class neighbourhood of Centocelle, the Forte Prenestino CSOA plays an important role in its local community. It houses an exhibition gallery, practice rooms for bands, space for theatrical performances, a dark room, gymnasium, tattoo studio and cafe. Classes are held, there are regular film nights, courses on design and sculpture, and a documentation centre. The Forte also boasts its own recording studio and music label, featuring local rap and reggae bands. There’s a store/canteen, a tea-room and also a bar.

There have been numerous attempts over the years to close the centre down. In 1995 the national government tried a new tactic when the Ministry of Finance put the property up for auction with a ridiculously low reserve price. The government move sparked a massive protest campaign. The squatters at Forte Prenestino, backed by all the other social centres in Rome, drummed up enough support to convince Rome City Council to pass new regulations governing acess to council property for social and cultural activities and the centre was saved. The new Alemanno administration has said it could “review” that legislation, sparking outrage from supporters of the social centres.

The Forte Prenestino CSOA plays an important role in its local community

From its outset in the 1970’s the squatter movement has always been dominated by alternative, left-leaning political tendencies and has been viewed with deep suspicion by the centre-right. Conservatives have slammed the social centres as dangerous hotbeds of illegality, where the original offence of squatting (a misdemanour) is inevitably compounded by more serious offences escalating from drug dealing to political subversion.
Recently young right-wing activists in Ostia have been campaigning for the closure of a social centre at the Colonia Vittorio Emanuele, an abandoned council-owned holiday residential centre. The protesters, backed by local conservative councillor Davide Bordoni are demanding the historic building should be put to more “appropriate” use, such as university facilities or a day nursery.

Not all the social centres in Rome are leftist havens. Some have been organised by right-wing activists. The most famous case is Casa Pound, a squat run by young fascists since December 2003 in Via Napoleone III not far from Termini railway station. The squat, named after the American modernist poet and apologist for fascism Ezra Pound, regularly organises conferences and special events to promote far-right views on themes of local, national and international issues.
If Mayor Alemanno is to remain faithful to his election pledges he will have to move against right-wing social centres too, which could provoke an unlikely alliance between traditionally opposed factions – as happened in recent demonstrations against educational reforms and spending cuts planned by the centre-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Those protests included violent clashes involving police, left-wing and far right extremists.
The police raid on the Horus social centre was followed by pitched battles between protesters and the forces of law and order. If city authorities really do decide to close down all Rome’s social centres those clashes could be just a foretaste of things to come.
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Some social centres in Rome:

- Acrobax Project – Via della Vasca Navale, 6 – San Paolo/Viale Marconi
- Astra 19 S.p.A. – Via Capraia, 19 – Tufello
- Ateneo Occupato – Via Ottone Fattiboni, 1 – Dragoncello
- Casal Bernocchi “La Talpa” – Via Guido Biagi, 21
- Corto Circuito – Via Filippo Serafini, 57 – Lamaro Cinecittà
- deCOLLIamo – Cantiere Sociale Tiburtino – Via F. Compagna - Colli Aniene
- Factory – Riva Ostiense – Ponte di ferro
- Forte Prenestino Via Federico Delpino – Centocelle
- Horus Occupato – Piazza Sempione, 4 – Montesacro
- Sans Papiers – Viale Carlo Felice, 69b – San Giovanni
- Spartaco – Via Selinunte 57 – Quadraro
- Strike S.p.A. – Via Partini – Portonaccio