Dr. Anne Schiller has recently published Commercianti a Firenze. Identità e Cambiamento nel Quartiere di San Lorenzo (Carocci Editore 2016) based upon anthropological fieldwork that she conducted in Florence from 2005-2016.
Commercianti a Firenze explores interrelationships among work, identity and social change, in particular immigration, as experienced by Italian ambulant vendors in a marketplace in the heart of Florence’s historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The San Lorenzo neighborhood takes its name from the parish church once patronized by the illustrious de’ Medici family. Ambulant vendors have plied wares from pushcarts and wagons along its streets since before the Renaissance. Vendors today operate market stands, where many pass their entire working lives. They often refer to themselves as “historic vendors” in recognition of their mercantile lineage.
This book uses the experiences and perspectives of a group of San Lorenzo’s ambulant vendors as a springboard to deeper understanding of the impact of globalization on local identities and on how people earn a living in an Italian urban setting. It is a revised and expanded version of Schiller’s earlier work, Merchants in the City of Art: Work, Identity, and Change in a Florentine Neighborhood (University of Toronto Press 2016). The new volume draws upon recent literature on globalization and immigration by Italian scholars, and also explores the activities and nascent impact of a recently established non-profit association, “Survivors of San Lorenzo” (Sopravissuti del San Lorenzo), founded by long-term ambulant vendors who are eager to contribute ideas to urban development projects affecting their neighborhood and seeking ways to make their voices heard.
The book is available in the United States through major on-line book retailers and widely carried by bookstores in Italy.
January 18, 2017
