Paola Somma
Clara Zanardi
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Venice was a very different city from today: overcrowded and popular, it was inhabited mainly by poor people forced to live in terrible hygienic conditions and suffer from hunger.
In this book, thanks to an extraordinary archival excavation into the documents of the time, Paola Somma offers us a completely new portrait of the society of the time. In fact, it was in those years that the policy of purging the popular classes began, which is the basis of today's city, whose places have now become a destination for tourists from everywhere.
A story not yet told, but fundamental to understanding the Venice of the present and to answering the questions it raises.
Foreword by Clara Zanardi.
Paola Somma, architect and urban planner, taught urban planning at IUAV in Venice.
She currently conducts independent research, focusing on the link between the physical organization and the economic and social structure of the territory. Her publications include: Venezia nuova (1983), Spazio e Razzismo (1991), Beirut: guerre di quartiere e globalizzazione (2000), At war with the city (2004), Privati di Venezia (Castelvecchi, 2021).
Clara Zanardi è editor e ricercatrice indipendente nel campo dell’antropologia urbana.
È autrice del libro La bonifica umana. Venezia dall’esodo al turismo (Unicopli 2020).
Per wetlands ha scritto la prefazione di Non è città per poveri di Paola Somma. Clara Zanardi è responsabile della redazione di wetlands e co-curatrice della collana Fondamenta.