Keeping Italy Beautiful - Part II
guest contributor - Rebecca Spitzmiller, co-founder of Retake Roma
Soon Retake Rome became a growing presence on social media - an essential part of the “Speak up” call to action. Early on, a Neapolitan woman, Paola Carra, joined us and gave Retake the Italian authenticity we needed to expand full force into native territory, including Italian public schools, where Paola teaches. Paola also recruited a graphic designer who donated his time to create our logo and teach us to use social media. Our trampoline was getting larger, and we were jumping in unison!
We began forming neighborhood groups to allow for more finely tuned local action; today in Rome alone there are some 80 such groups. Soon other cities joined the Retake movement. We now comprise 53 cities – from Palermo to Padua (and including Agrigento, Bari, Bergamo, Brescia, Cagliari, Como, Cosenza, Florence, Foggia, Lecce, Naples, Pavia, Rome and Turin) – as part of our national foundation, Retake. We have a full-time staff and several offices
The first Retake in Trevi, PG.
In 2018 Italian President Sergio Mattarella honored Retake by naming me “Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito,” citing my “engaging commitment to fighting urban decay and defending the commons." Our voices had not only been heard, but even esteemed, at the highest governmental level.
Retake’s empowerment attitude allows us to welcome newcomers without any formalities or bureaucracy. Italians are still sometimes amazed that “we are allowed” to do such a thing. Allowed? The Italian Constitution specifically endorses such action in Article 118, horizontal subsidiarity, which means that whenever citizens want to work for the betterment of the common good, the government must facilitate their actions.
Co-founders Rebecca Spitzmiller, Lori Hickey and Paola Carra at Quirinale the day of the award ceremony presided by President Mattarella
Armed with this principle and the rule of law, I began teaching Street Law at Roma Tre’s Law Department, a clinical legal-education course in which Italian law students teach civic education and the principles inherent to Retake to high school students and organize Retakes with them. The dynamic of young people teaching their slightly younger peers further extends empowerment in unprecedented ways; the course provides that the high schoolers then teach the middle schoolers, like a cascade. The hope is that they will all spread Retake’s message to their parents and other family members.
Retake has achieved impressive results: in 14 years, Retakers have met more than 5000 students, been the subject of 500 articles in national and international media, planted more than 3000 trees, canceled more than 45 square kilometers of vandalistic graffiti, removed 35 tons of trash, and produced 60 works of urban art. Every week, throughout the national territory, more than 25 urban regeneration events are organized. Since 2015, Retake has organized 8142 events. We even have our own app to keep track of all this data!
It is clear that Retake is about so much more than just cleaning up tags and litter. True to my initial vision, Retake allows art and beauty to flourish in places that were once degraded; it encourages people to take care of one another and of their surroundings. Retakers plant trees and flowers; we paint murals; we reenact historic events; we write and sing songs and dance; we organize parties and events for diversely-abled citizens; we recycle gym shoes to make soft pavement for playgrounds in Riciclo e Riuso; we clear overgrowth to retake abandoned land so citizens can enjoy it; we teach children to respect the environment and to recycle properly, educating them towards responsibility and beauty, through Retake Scuole; we help clean the Tiber and Aniene rivers and their banks to allow people to enjoy these aspects of Rome; we teach university courses on Retake’s values of personal responsibility and respect for the common goods; we teach Italian to immigrants and impart them with skills to help them get jobs through Retake solidale; we work with companies and their employees to raise awareness about the need to take care of our neighborhoods through team-building activities in Retake Aziende; we rethink neighborhoods through the practice of tactical urbanism to make fast, cheap, meaningful changes to towns and cities, through our program “Made in Retake”; we offer enhanced visibility to businesses that distinguish themselves as models for their virtuous practices in taking care of the spaces outside their own premises in our project InRetake; we take walks while taking care of the city and rediscovering its rich artistic and architectural splendor, through Retake Cultura.
In short, there’s something for everyone. Join us and pick something you like, or start your own project: did I mention we’re all about empowerment?
Retake celebrates Earth Day every year with major events in Rome and other Retake cities.
Since its founding, Retake has collaborated effectively with each of Rome’s Mayors since 2010, overcoming difficulties in dealing with them and with politicians generally. We remain strictly non-partisan, while passing our urgent political message that the public administration should be doing more to take care of our cities and common goods. Retake has attracted testimonials from famous Italians and iconic Italian actors such as Terence Hill and Margherita Buy, and been spotlighted on TV shows such as Geo and I Nuovi Eroi. We won an award for best short documentary for our ten-year anniversary docu-film at the Vesuvius Film Festival. We participate in Earth Day each spring and in the Estonian World Clean-Up Day each fall. We’ve attracted corporate sponsorships to finance our operations from companies such as Amazon, BNL, Bulgari, Cisalfa, Fater, Fendi, Mercedes and Toyota. Our voice is resounding and our actions are growing.
My journey to Italy would have turned out very differently if I had not found my voice and the ability to arouse the passion in so many to defend Italy’s common goods and preserve its beauty. The values underlying the rule of law and artistic creativity helped me to face the roughest challenges; Retake has borrowed from them both to harness their power to exalt the spirit and transform the mundane into the exceptional.
As a grassroots movement, Retake truly began by efforts of a small group determined to demonstrate that “We the People” could and should take actions to “promote the general welfare.” Journalists and others curious about Retake often ask me why “ci voleva un’americana” – why it took an American – to start such an innovative and successful movement. My answer is that my unique blend of two cultures – two complementary worlds and their inherent values – combined to allow me to discern what needed to be done and to actually do something about it. I am still moving carefully but purposefully on an ever-growing trampoline, along with about 100,000 Retakers all across Italy.
Retakers cover vandalistic tags, restoring dignity to public space.
Retake is a nonprofit and nonpartisan grassroots movement, promoting beauty, livability and urban regeneration, encouraging the spread of civic pride and our duty to contribute to the civic and economic growth of cities. We organize civic mobilization events, educational projects and public-private collaborations, involving in the respect and protection of cities in their public spaces: streets, squares, green areas, beaches, buildings.
info@retakeroma.org www.retake.org www.retakeroma.org
Facebook.com/RetakeRoma @Retake_Roma