What is Sveja?

Sveja was born from the awareness of a lack. The public debate in Rome is of rather poor quality. Local news pages are increasingly filled with hasty analysis, sensationalist news, and the most common rhetoric used to talk about cities today: the enchantment of monuments for tourists or the anxiety about safety, the “malamovida” (bad nightlife)…

During the last mayoral election campaign in 2022, it became very clear how this mediocre information led, on the one hand, to the ignorance of many inhabitants and the political class regarding the most interesting aspects and real problems of the city and their respective causes. On the other hand, it led to the disaffection of citizens from participating in political debate and voting. It was precisely at that moment, with a group of independent journalists, freelance authors, and activists, that Sveja was born—a press review to be broadcast every day in Rome, trying to make the debate about the city we live in more qualified, clear, and complex. After all, the discussion on Rome is not just about Rome, but about issues that go beyond local and national borders: from the waste crisis to the welfare crisis, from migration policies to transport policies, to understand how urban life is transforming in the time of Amazon, the post-pandemic era, and climate change.

Sveja is a daily press review in podcast format edited by a collective of fifteen journalists, activists, and scholars on the city of Rome, its province, and its surroundings. Every morning by 8:30 am, a 20-30 minute podcast will be broadcast on all online channels by a different voice from the editorial team. “Il Tamburino” is published on Saturdays, offering a cultural study on cinema, theatre, performing arts, exhibitions, and cultural initiatives, while on Sundays, “Fuoriporta” provides in-depth analysis by one or more voices. The topics covered are among the most varied and respond to the specific interests of the authors, as well as the collective need to take stock of particular issues, and the urgency of discussing current topics.

Who Supports Us
Sveja is an independent communication project supported by Periferiacapitale, the program for Rome of the Charlemagne Foundation.
The archival audio material is provided through collaboration with AAMOD, the audiovisual archive of the labor and democratic movement.
Here you might find the solution to your richness..

Explore Sveja
Il Tamburino (The drummer boy): Every Saturday Sveja’s drum rolls! Il Tamburino is the cultural review of Rome, keeping you updated on events in the capital. Discover hidden gems, make some noise, and learn things you didn’t know you wanted to know

Fuoriporta: Sundays at Sveja are like a “fuoriporta” (out-of-town excursion): free from editorial plans and unpredictable in content.

El Dorado: El Dorado is a section curated by Valentina Brinis, where the main events related to immigration and integration around the world, in Europe, in Italy, and in Rome are reviewed.

I Tre Scalini: “On Via della Lungara there is a step; whoever doesn’t climb it is neither Roman nor Trasteverino.”
The three steps are those of Regina Coeli. In popular tradition, it is said that anyone who hasn’t climbed those three steps at least once cannot call themselves a Roman. Every month, “I Tre Scalini,” Sveja’s column dedicated to news from the prison, arrives, conducted by Alessandro Capriccioli.

Who are we?
Sveja is created by a collective of fifteen people who live and work in Rome and its surroundings, with diverse backgrounds in journalism, research, publishing, and activism. Here you might someone you know..

The following podcasts, for which I handled post-production and historical archive research, are in Italian language

Ciro e Noi

by Lorenzo Boffa in collaboration with Luca Tommasini

Ciro Principessa was a young activist of the Italian Federation of Young Italian Communists, murdered on the night between April 19th and 20th, 1979, by the young fascist Claudio Minetti. The neighborhood committee of Villa Certosa, largely composed of those who were his friends at the time, honors him every year with a celebration in his honor. Not only that: in his memory, that of a streetwise boy without formal education, who passed through prison and found a new life through political commitment, his friends and comrades dedicate their daily efforts to redeeming the life of a neighborhood long neglected by institutions.

Il caso Moro, oltre il rumore

By Cecilia Ferrara and Luca Dammicco | Post-production and historical archive research by Luca Tommasini

Much has been said about the Moro case—the kidnapping, imprisonment, and murder of the President of the Christian Democracy by the Roman column of the Red Brigades—often contradictory. However, a fundamental part of the story has not been told, or has been told very little: the “after”. This includes the journey that led Aldo Moro’s daughter, Agnese, to meet some of those responsible for the act: Adriana Faranda, the “postwoman” of the Red Brigades during the kidnapping, and Franco Bonisoli, who participated in the massacre on Via Fani. They embarked on a path of restorative justice starting in 2009. The purpose of restorative justice is not only to ‘heal’ the direct protagonists of such traumatic events but also to repair a collective wound, a national trauma, like the one Italy experienced with the kidnapping, imprisonment, and assassination of Aldo Moro.

Giacomo Matteotti. Esperienza e memoria

by Mariasle Garacci | Post-production and historical archive research by Luca Tommasini

Monuments are material symbols placed in memory of historical events and people: they are made of stone, wood, or bronze. Nothing is eternal or universally shared by virtue of a politically or historically significant event decided once and for all, but only when people return to experience it, give it meaning, and intertwine it with their own lives. On the centenary of the assassination by fascists of the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, on June 10, 1924, we asked ourselves how a figure of such importance is remembered, beyond celebratory rhetoric and instrumental controversies. But, more importantly, what does memory mean without its civic and political use? We undertook a journey back in time by discussing history, but also the civic and personal experiences inspired by the figure of Giacomo Matteotti.

Le serrande del Quarticciolo

by Marica Fantauzzi and Alessandro Coltré| Post-production and historical archive research by Luca Tommasini

This week’s Fuori Porta tells the story of a cluster of public buildings consisting of a clinic, a gym, a recreational club, and an after-school program. It recounts intertwined struggles and communities opposing the desolation caused by years of institutional neglect. It speaks of people who wish to reopen the shutters of the Ater premises to start restaurants, pastry shops, and workshops. Marica Fantauzzi and Alessandro Coltré take us to Quarticciolo, walking with those who were born here and those who have decided to support a daily process of claims and popular struggles alongside the Quarticciolo Rebel Committee. With their recorder always on through the streets of this quadrilateral, they aim to highlight the needs and desires of a neighborhood that few are willing to listen to.

Un bosco tra i palazzi

by Ylenia Sina and Lorenzo Boffa | Post-production and historical archive research by Luca Tommasini

The ecological crisis puts cities at a crossroads: continue building as usual or equip themselves with tools for adaptation. This is the focus of today’s Fuoriporta, the story of the lake in the former industrial area of Snia Viscosa, which emerged in 1992 during the excavations for the construction of a shopping center in the Prenestino district of Rome. It’s a story we have already talked about on Sveja, but we return to it because, until recently, there was still a possibility of extending environmental protections to the entire area. Today, that door is now closed, and the familiar and repetitive proposal for a building project has resurfaced. However, residents and activists who have been fighting for years to protect the area have a plan: to expropriate it and create a naturalistic archaeological park.

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