-5

Reconstructing Sexual Geography:

Gender and Space in
Changing Sicilian Settlements
Sally S. Booth

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To talk about the family and the house in Sicily is to talk of men and women and
changing patterns ofsexual geography. In the past, women were generally restricted
to domestic space of the home and the adjacent courtyard, while men were free to
enter the public space ofthe street and the cafe, the center oflocal economics and
politics. The reconstruction of western Sicilian towns damaged by the 1968
earthquake precipitated significant transformations in domestic architectureand
settf~;ne-nt. Changes in the design of houses and towns have been accompanied in
turn by changing ideas about men and women and the spaces they inhabit. In the
past twenty years, the traditional sexual geography of the Mediterranean agrotown
has been both reinforced and challenged. In this chapter, I treat transformations in
archi~ in the reconstructed settlements and the inhabitants' reactions to these
changes as a vantage point on contested ideas concerning gender, morality, and,

'

'

sp~e.

Urban geographers have incorporated issues of power and stratification into

analyses of the built environment, producing important and theoretically valuable
research. While there has been great emphasis on class as a dynamic aspect of
urban process, investigation ofhow ~xnd~!. in.~~r~t iJ).J,b.e..tr,i!~IJll.1!ti.on r ,(1' .,.;J ~
ofspace has been minimal. Thus, here I treat the relationship between changing
domestic spa'C"e-and"women's experience in bothwaged and .u!'.\\'~~~<iwork.
After discussing patterns of gender segregation in traditional dwellings and
agrotowns of the western Sicilian interior, I focus on new housing forms built " ,,'It ~
after the earthquake. Reconstruction following the 1968 earthquake coincided with ",,<"'~.
emerging feminist ideas regarding women's work and role in the public realm, as ~ cJ''''
well as changing ideals of privacy. Planners of the new towns disregarded the
"~;,
different ways men and women traditionally inhabited public and private space. ;'"o~1."
Furthermore, they overlooked some important social functions of different types : . }, .-'\'\'
of spaces in the old settlements.
~.:::"".\... .
In the dramatically transformed architectural context of the new towns, men
and women find themselves mOE~J~9.!~!':..d, both from each other in the home and
-133

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

from other men and women outside the home. While the architectural design of
the old towns emphasized the contrasts between the community of men and the
community of women, in the new towns the focus shifted to the nuclear family.
Notwithstanding class variation in housing, the barriers between male and female
spatial domains and, subsequently, between different families have in fact increased
in post-earthquake housing built by the state. It is from this perspective that I
examine the reactions of inhabitants - particularly women - to the constraints
associated with new housing, as they challeng~!.-h_e_genderedB?~tial arrangements ~'~
designed by architects and planners hired by the Italian state.
In general, women find the new housing designs of the 2QsJ:~l!I:t.!Jqua.~e
reconstructed settlements restrictive
and inconvenient. The majority of Sicilian
____.
women are inclined to use the dwelling space for production offoodstuffs and for
domestic chores associated with child care and family maintenance. To facilitate
these tasks many invest a sizable portion offamily income and great effort to alter
the new dwellings. There are tw~~.&~~_~e~~._?!. altera!!9.!!.: (I) poorer families
with women involved in home production redesign the space of the new house to
mirror house design prior to reconstruction - that is, they reposition the kitchen
work space to adjoin.semi-public areas such as.the_~()u~~.!:~()rE:r~-~t;arJ.d(2)
rti::lier~, often professionals working outside thehome, are beginning to
reject altogether the urban row housing of the agglomerated settlement in favor of
rt::~t::ttleme_nLilld~Jg~_h~Qsubm:Qan.yillasin the surrounding countryside. These
two different responses reflect new ideas regarding domesticity and changing
patterns ofhousework as influenced by economic necessity and status considerations.
Different responses to housing change in Sicily indicate new residential alterna
tives sure to affect future settlement patterns significantly. While the question of . j
domestic space in contemporary Europe is often phrased in the dichotomous terms
oftraditional versus modem housing, the Sicilian material forces us to reconceptualize -J'
the model and recognize the linkages between gender ideals, work requirements .
and class expectations. The dynamics of changing domestic space reflect women'~ ~ .'
needs and aspirations as much as the intentions of architects and planners.Recog-j (2..
nition of this dynamic hal> theQI~Jif!!! i!.n_c!.Q91icyjmplicationsrelevant to planned \ ~
housing projects generally.
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---------

The Traditional Agrotown

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Before the earthquake, the settlement pattern in the Belice \f~_l~'y_ of~BiciLy
was relatively uniform and stable. In the two major historical periods of settlement
formation - the medieval Arab colonization of the twelfth century and the feudal
expansions of the 1600s conducted under the aegis of the Spanish crown
towns were built as agglomerated settlements with smallnarrow streets lined with
contiguous housing, broken.up.only by courtyardentrances, churches, and small

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

shops. Like the settlement architecture of Mediterranean villages throughout North
Africa and Europe, western Sicilian towns give the feeling of enclosure; long
expanses of walls with few openings characterizereslaentiar streets TOliver 1987:
119,202; Valussi 1968: 38). In western Sicily, the agrotown remained the dominant
settlement type until the investment of emigrant remittances in housing in the 1960s
and the state reconstruction projects of the 1970s and 1980s. The traditional house
type of the agrotown was established in the 1600s and 1700s, and some suggest
the only change in Sicilian housing between then and the postwar period was
a continuing decline and impoverishment of the original form (see e.g. Renna
1979: 59).
Several factors account for the extraordinary stability of settlement type and
housing design from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Agglomerated
settlements on hilltops had ecological implications, since inhabitants feared the
malaria associated with the lowland countryside. The crowded settlements had
political ramifications as well. Landowners found it easier to mobilize and control (
the peasant labor force in a relatively confined urban area, while peasants were
less likely to lay claim to the land they worked while living distant from it (Smith
1976: 248). Banditry in the countryside and the absence of infrastructure and public
services outside of towns also impeded dispersal and settlement (Blok 1969;
Schneider and Schneider 1976: 34-6). In short, the long duration of feudal condi
tions in western Sicily assured the .c.o.u1.inuitv of the agrotoWl1 until the latter part
of the twentieth century (Valussi 1968: 183).
The typical Sicilian settlement was organized around a ~l!Ltbe
town ~t:J!1er. This was surrounded by rings of older, then newer housing. Cultivated
f1eI(fs and the rocky, uncultivated countryside lay beyond. The traditional agrotown
was traversed by a central corridor
or boulevard, the corso. Shops, offices,
municipal buildings, bars, men's clubs, and piazze were located along this axis.
This area was considered the ce.!!,ter of male public ~ce,..lhe area where men L."v.."'.' ,\
c- ci'
,
could and were expected to move freely to work, shop, and socialize. As such, it c..,~. ~ \
was the site of much busine_~~and-PQli!ical activity, both formal and informal, and ~l< .,~,\,\,,_
thus the centrallocal~'f~xpressions of civic culture (see also Silverman 1975). ",..... ,~'
Yet the public character of this central zone was never absolute; instead its ';:r:-;,,~"
public-private patterning varied by time and function (Sciama 1993: 88). For \ .
)
instance, the public nature of coffee bars was variable. Theoretically open to all,
they were nevertheless informally segregated by class and occupational groupings,
-.".,--.;.,;...--~~

~s well as by gender.' ~he public functions oft~e corso a.lso shifted according to! '..... ~. :~'"
time and context. While normally the exclusive domam of men, o!!...SJlwmer ' .
weekends and during.r.e~_fesili'alsJhe.e.YeningpaueggiQto (promenade) was
--< \
\-,.. t
enlivened by women. All dressed up and accompanied by their families, they
""'V~;<\
paraded up and down the corso. At other times women would de~d -""ora \ h.
the dow~!own area. During the ordinary business day, for instance, they avoided 'tJ,~.-1
i .

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-134

-135

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Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

wash and dry laundry, and collect rain water (Valussi 1968: 44). Architecturally,
the cortile gave light on to the interiors of surrounding houses. Importantly, as the<
"center of all agricultural and family movement" the courtyard was the physical \ 6' L
form of "social protection," providing a sheltered workspace for women, invisible
to the passing public (Valussi 1968: 44).
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the corso by having men do the shopping and other tasks. Or they might have
brought along their children to chaperone them in the male areas.?
Finally, the most private of all public places on the corso were the men's cl~
.....> (\..1; the circoli. Membershiplrilliese store-front clubs was formally divided by-~Iass
and occupational group. Each town in western Sicily had a number of circoli; e.g.

a club for the civili (or bourgeois) class, a fi~~~rJ!l~.!!:"Eunters' club, a leftist w9rkers'

club, and a sports fans' club. The circoli were, by definition, restricted. Women

were not welcome-its"members, nor were they comfortable entering these clubs to

communicate with their menfolk. Young boys, employed by the nearby bars, acted

as go-betweens, delivering coffee, drinks, and messages to the men in the circoli.
Despite the varying public-private quality of town space, the geographic
.~~ distribution of different areas in a town can be viewed as a continuum of public

~\'.~. and private zones of male and female activities. While the corso was used by the
~'r. ..t ~ outside visitors and the male population of the town, the adjoining neighborhoods
:~""'..J" were more exclusively the domain of residents. Both men and women frequented
the neig!Worhood streets, which were lined with entrances to houses and courtyards
and interspersed with small shops. Wo~~n used these streets to work! socialize,
i,,' and 111()~~.t.~E~llg~ the town. When visiting kin or friends across town, women

would often take

order
P
"'''Jwomen used the side streets as work space during the weekdays. There, with
... better light and, more importantly, the company of neighborhood women, they
watched children, cooked, sewed, and socialized outside their doorways. Occa
sionally men helped with domestic tasks in this semi-public area, usually with
special projects associated with harvesting and food processing.
The mo~tsignificantsemi-public snaee wr women in the traditieRaI agrotown
fIt<'" e
was the c~, or cortile. The courtyard has been a defining feature of western
-\'k
Si~ement since the medieval period of the Arab colonization (roughly

between the ninth and fourteenth century), and has displayed a remarkable conti
nuity with past urban structure due to its enduring functional utility in the daily
life of agriculturalists (Casamento et al. 1984: 6). In a comprehensive study of
pre-earthquake residential patterns in Sicily, Giorgio Valussi argues that the most
characteristic element of the house, both in town and in the country, was the
. ok. courtyard, the terrace, or the alcove on the side street; that is, it was the semi __
~)~~~ Qublic wo!:K~~ce of women that characterized the Sicilian house (Valussi 1968:

~,,\ 184).Enclosed by houses on three sides and by an often gated entryway on the
1Io]
fourth, the courtyard se~.~.~~_.~I!_~~~Qnof.semi:.Qubli.._sW~_cQm_'!1!!.I!..a}ly

shared
by the s!!IT.Q.!!n<:iinKhQ!!ses. The cortile was commonly
linked
to.-.thehouse
-...;.--_..
-...... .. _..-.".......
..
by the ki1c.h.~:__~d it was considered the PXilltilJ:Y.._WQrkSl2ace for women.

While men stored equipment, animals, and transport vehicles in the courtyard, it
was women who inhabited the space. They used the area to clean and prepare
agricultural goods, visit.:witl) neighbors, cook, feed family and seasona! workers,
,+.,-

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iI!~~~~~rout.:~~ou~h sid~~.!1>jn

-136

L..

Houses in the Traditional Agrotown

The divisions of town space into continua of male-female and public-private were
reiterated in the divisions of house interiors. And, as in town space, class differences
complicated the patterns of gender segregation of household space.

Great regularity characterized housing form for poor and middle-income peasants
in the traditional agrotown. Made of the same materials (tufaeous rock), they varied
in size, structure (number of rooms), and number of stories. The typical, single
story, one-room house of a poor landless peasant family had four separate areas
for storage, stall and hayloft, a kitchen at the entrance, and an elevated alcove for
sleeping in the back of the unit (see Figure 5.1). The common two-story house of

a poor peasant family had areas for storage, stall and hay on the ground floor, and
sleeping space upstairs. The kitchen area of this home was often part of an outside
alcove in the courtyard or on the street (e.g. Valussi 1968: 37; Salomone-Marino
1981: 51). The typical, two-story, two-room house of a richer landowning peasant
family (burgisi or civili) was composed of a ground-floor entry hall, a kitchen-dining
area, stall and hay room, and a storage area for transport vehicles and goods. The
upper floor was divided into bedrooms, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, and
a storage area (see Figure 5.2). More often than not the burgisi house had two kitchens
- one on the ground floor for daily cooking and feeding of harvest laborers, and

one upstairs reserved for family use and special occasions (e.g. Valussi 1968: 43).

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Residences in the traditional agrotown. were divided betw.e.en. da,y and night
.J'~-\.,,:J
spaces." Women's ~ork, agrjc~Jl!!r~l.an~~~iallY):wrod!!g!~~~!_.().E~~I!~~)Il.~~ \ r)~
space centered around the.ki.tcl1en. The kitchen area, especially in smaller, poorer '
houses, was either outside or linked to the outside by an entryway. Thus women,]
especial.ly po~rer ones, worked in kitchen areas t~at frequently spilled out into ' '1 ~ )
the semi-public space of the courtyard or street. NIght space, on the other hand, .J

was restricted to the family

and was. "sh(ired
b,ymeIl, wo:men_ari'a:..GhIl~~-for
.._.....
.' .. ._'.
,
...
sleeping. lii-h-6iisesof the richer burgisi and civili, men and women also shared

sleeping areas, but were well-segregated for other activities. Here women worked
in an upstairs kitchen for at least part of the time. While removed from contact
with the street and courtyard, these kitchens frequently opened on to balconies,
which faced the street and neighboring balconies. In more elaborate houses, a
separate study and living room allowed richer men exclusive areas in which to
conduct business or entertain.
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-137

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

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ELEVATED
SLEEPING ALCOVE

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PARTITION WALL
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KITCHEN

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(STALLA.)

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lMNG.DINING ROOM ;:

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HEARTH
(FORNO)

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HAYLOFT (FIENILE)
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-138

::::1';?

I METERS

T2.. summarize, then, the arc~i!~~t~.re of gender in t~t: ..traditio~otown

operated on two ditTerent11wsical and co:W:ii1~rs"fwas the town space
extem~rtth~.~.x.ar.iIa1..JllQSl sigpificantlx b ,gender and
secondarily by class and occupation. All men, local and outsider, rich and poor,
had-free'''accesstothe pubiic c~irter, the corso, where they socialized, conducted
business, or negotiated employment. Moving between the public, semi-public,
and private spaces of the town, men were able to act as "mediators" for women,
transferring information between the outsIde world alleCtiie" domestic one
(Schneider and Schneider 1976: I02). Q!!.!Y.!l~ighbort'.~ men had l~~ent
in the semi-public side streets, where they stored agricultural goods and tools and
occasionally assTstea'wlth'domestic work. Most rigidJy~irc.UI]1scribed..ofJlll.eAtemal
areas w~sth~c~~rtile; only men from the surrounding houses had full access to
this most private of public areas. But for special.occasicns.zacmea did ~t have
free access to the corso. Their movement around town was limited to the side
streets, which were used as traveling routes and work spaces, yfecortiJ, the most

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Dr:"';:':-: :.';.:'.';:' ~,~ .;:<,:;;:;~ :.::,::,'-::':'::';;: .<',:': \':

GROUND FLOOR
(PIANTERRENO)

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(SALA.-SALonO)

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Figure 5.1 Typical house oflandless peasant family (Drawn by Brian Stadler),

...., :

:2

(STANZA DA LEnO)

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STORAGE
(DEPOSITO)

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FIRST FLOOR I
(PRIMO PIANO

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.;:, :.: ~ ' , : :'~:~ : . : - ; :,~,.::.:;:~ ':ic;i;:':::~p!

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AGRICULTURAL
STORAGE

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HEARTH

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Figure 5.2 Typical house of a landowning peasant family (Drawn by Brian Stadler),

-139

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Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

~ exclusive of women's exterior spaces, functioned as an extension of the kitchen,

) shared only by kin and the nearest female neighbors.

The ambiguous nature of the courtyard brings us to the second level of gender
segregation in the traditional western Sicilian settlement, the house. D~y s~e,
comprising the kitchen.!!nd the CQ~N.d. was the focal point of women's activities.
While shared by p;;;;;r women, the day space was separated in an upstairs area in
the homes of richer women. Lacking easy access to the courtyard, these women
used kitchen balconies as extensions of the workspace and for socializing with
neighbors. While men had access to all domestic space, they spent m.uch less time
,:.-..I in or near the home; only richer men had exclusively male space in which to work
~
' 'de the house.
.
mSI
(C'. ,!.',v,
The implications of these spatial patterns of gender segregation bear on larger
aspects of stratification. The findings from Sicily corroborate the cross-cultural
..../~l~research of Daphne Spain (1992), who found women's low status consistently
i'~ linked to high levels of spatial segregation. Where women have only limited or
"'\~access to places of socially-valued information - such as the workplace, the
school, or places in the house or town associated with business and politics
r..l ~~ there is little possibility of gender equality. By contrast, in societies where socially
4.. T"'-'~
.
.
.
.
if',).."': valued information or space IS accessible to both men and women, there tends to
,{ (~v'''lS. be more parity between the sexes (Spain 1992).
'lk""":"\j This theoretical framework relating spatial domains to gender equality and
inequality is well suited to explain the Sicilian material. In the traditional agrotown,
'f""'v men had e~sy ,~~ss to socially valued info~n in the town center, walking
'; "J~'" along the corso, gathering in the bars and circoli, or passing time in the piazza
':~""'H (White 1980: ISO). In these areas business, politics, and social life were discussed,
,.....>;v1ttontracts mediated, exchanges arranged, jobs secured, and prices negotiated.
- .. :l'<llyWomen were excluded from the news exchanged in the town center; their access
~,~th.to'socially
valued information was limited to the communally shared areas of side
,~
streets and courtyards. But it is important to, remember t~Uhe....nat.u.re of the
publicly
as powerful, women of a neighborhood or shared courtyard exercised a measure
~
of social control over important
sllheres
of Siilian private and public life- namely
.1l
.
--.,...._-
the household economy (home production and social reproduction) and the social
'" ,reputation oftownspeople, neighbors, and kin. Marriage ties, family status, personal
o ~I standing, and honor were all discussed, negotiated, and determined in the course
of women's talk (Schneider and Schneider 1976: 93--4, 207). The spatial domain
of this talk was women's work spaces, the kitchen and the courtyard.
Overall, access to the semi-public space of the side street and cortile provided
women the wherewithal to work communally and to exchange information. But
class differences intersected the spatial patterns of gender in the agrotown. Like
the bourgeois house of nineteenth-century England and of the United States (Spain

.( 1

, l info~~tiol}. vallie-dJ;l.YJn~!L~n~T:;Qm~!1~(fl~red~Whii~~-;t
.-~--------....._--~--'".-.-~~---."-

---

- 140

. 1992: 113), the houses of rich Sicilians were more spatially segregated by gender
than those of the poor. Because they could afford to build separate rooms for the .
separate activities of men and women, as well as two kitchens (one spatially
removed from imme?iate ~ontact With, the cortile), th~ spa~~~I.barriers ar?und;:il.;h.~r \
w~n were more imposmg and ultimately-more isolatingj Thus, pnvate space
was more absolute; semi-public areas were 'nof'shared by neighborhood women
as in the more popular qu~\, but were instead restricted to the use of family
women alone. Use of the ~ny to exchange informatio'!..2!!JY Qartially mitigated ~.
the isolation of the wealthier women.
There is little question that Sicilian society was characterized by unequal
relations of patriarchy. In southern Italy "a woman was good if she was a selfless ,.l.r..L.{ 0./

7'

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I
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0.

II

wife and mother subordinating herself to husband, family, church, and societY';v,:~~:7;...~;
(Birnbaum 1986: xv). More importantly, women's work of child care and house- \~~
work was not highly valued, either socially or financially. Clear illustration of
Spain's model correlating levels of gender segregation with sexual stratification
is found in the agrotown, where relations of patriarchy were supported by the
spatially segregated work of men and women. Men dominated with control over
legal, economic, and political aspects of local life. They controlled spheres of r. ,~,",
influence by means of their easy access to the public areas of interaction - men 's ":;~:'L
interaction. Richer men in professional occupations could move in the most
exclusive public places - the elite bars and circoli - and could so preserve and
enhance their elite position with their hold on the more restricted and most valued~
information. Women had little or no access to the economics and politics of th
public sphere, and thus little social power vis-a-vis men.
'IV
Yet the semi-public nature of women's work in poorer quarters complicates \\
this issue. By virtue of their shared work spaces near or in the courtyard or side \\. \
street, these women did have access to relatively important social information (A.ot,r'li'\df'
.
.
(White 1980: ISO). While male workspace was inaccessible to women, female"<<L'''f>~,t""
work space, of the poorer classes was by necessity used by men to pass throu~h, f
to store their goods and tools, and to work." In short, poorer women had occasion
_ \/ ~
to share information both among themselves and with men; they had greater access
",}I
to and more control over social information than was available to their middle.
.I)
class counte~a~s. This potential imbalance. betwee~ th~ classes: with p~orer'
women exercising a degree of power over information maccesslble to ncher
.'/
women, was mitigated by the ~eologies of QQg9!~d sbame{
, /
Because their houses afforded rich women work s~imal exposure and' ,,") I
visibility, these women enjoyed a higher status; they were socially compensated 'i
for enduring political obstacles associated with their housing. By contrast, poore\
L -.!
women compromised their social honor; they ran the risk of bringing shame uponi . ' (
themselves and their families by being observed while engaged in domestic tasks~ t'(J~
and in contact with non-family men.
' ,-)\

.A' :,

"to. '.

rec~gnized

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----

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it

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- 141 -

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Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

Sicilian Society Transformed

\I

if

,,~

.:l

,1 .'

. --.l.Lo

-t

after the earthquake. ""i." r~ \

Italy of the ~ 1960s and 1970s was characterized by an "extraordinary period
of social ferment" (Ginsborg 1990: 298). Emerging out of the student uprisings
of the universities and the militant labor organization of northern factories, collec
tive movements associated with the progressive Left affected all segments ofItalian
society. Routines and expectations of daily life in western Sicily were profoundly
transformed by these trends. Even more than the mobilizations of students and
workers, the feminist movement had explosive consequences in Sicily, where male
female relations were extremely conservative and strongly patriarchal.
The economic miracle refers to the linked processes of dramatically declining
agriculture in the South and rapidly developing industry in the North. In Sicily,
d flight to the North 6fffie-----force
the greatexodus fJ3lm the-I
meant that towns were "feminized.v'They ecame "women's colonies," populated
overw e rmng y y women,
I dren, and the elderly (Birnbaum 1986: 241).
Despite the great number offemale-headed households, feminism itselffaced many
major obstacles in the South, especially in Sicily."
The formidable barriers confronting the feminist movement in southern Italy
~ere linked to the conservative social and political climate. Women were legally
a~cf-e~6&rntically subordinate to men (Birnbaum 1986: 13) and "imprisoned" by
traditional family structures (Schneider and Schneider 1976: 93). The dominant

...

--

institutional powers in Sicily - the ~~!~i<l11J~~~~~~~~~a.rtY, the c;,~tl12.U.c. Church,

a_':!.~ Mafia - alLresisled_RIQgr~.~sive soci~ch~~romoted by the feminists
(HellmaI11987: 183, 167). In Italy, politics was "almost exclusively the domain
of men" until the 1970s (Ginsborg 1990: 366). The political climate for women's
participation was particularly "brutal," with political parties from both the Right
and
Left,,,.....
reacting to the mobilization of women with "obstruction, isolation, and
(;'C.&-"
ostracism" (Hellman 1987: 168, 169). Significantly, the absence of public space
for democratic participatory politics, especially the politics of women, further
hindered the feminist movement in the South (Hellman 1987: 126). 8
Despite these impediments to women's mobilization, the feminist movement
~s enjoyed remarkable success in the Italian South. The passage of important

'-----_.-------142 -

resistance to~uclear base at.C.omiso, and the ongoing ~tru.ggle to, esta,b,lish?,.
women's service centers and clinics demonstrate the contIE.~~l)K rel.~vlln~~,.2f ] ~
feminism in the South. More significant has been the changing consciousness of I . ,_, .r
southern~omen;women have attained the "skills that gave [them] the confidence to"
to act in the public sphere and to redefine 'women's personal problems' as public
issues" (Hellman 1987: 206). Consequently, women have entered the public sphere
"
in ways unimaginable in the past in the traditional agrotown.
,
The most striking change has occurred in the realm ofed6c~ Co-education Y-'
'-..
'
for elementary grades has signalled the end of sex segre'g-afion of children.
/',.)/
Traditionally, women's education was cursory and brief in Sicily. But during the\ \ _
watershed years since 1968 more inclusive rules of access have greatly affected ~, r : }
women's opportunities for university training. By 1968, a full third of all university \
students were women (Lumley 1990: 55). Middle-class women received higher
education, and many trained for professions outside the home." These are the
"
.\.
women who spearheaded the feminist movement in the South. They now work as
clerks and professionals outside the home, entering previously restricted spaces -".
of work such as offices, schools, clinics, and town halls. In fact, many jobs With~ (i.,
the bureaucracy set up for earthquake reconstruction (e.g. building departmen s
,.
and housing offices) were set aside specifically for educated women.
Although poorer, less educated women have been less directly influenced by
the feminist movement, they too have been more active in the market economy
since the earthquake. The Sicilian economy is characterized by underdevelopment,
where emigrant remittances and state entitlements subsidize a consumer economy
that lacks a significant productive base (Schneider and Schneider 1976: 207).
As a result of this lopsided economy, many Sicilians work in unregulated
illegal jobs. Lavoro nero (literally "black work," or unregistered employment)
taps the reserve ofthe unemployed, or more specifically, the working unemployed,
who are often women engaged in housework. While factory work is still rare in
western Sicily, there has been a marked increase in lavoro nero among poorer
~~~
,
Sicilian women since the nation-wide recession of the 1970s. Lavoro nero
frequently depends on local resources and seasonal variations; in different
,...'
towns of western Sicily it includes jobs in embroidery, sewing of clothes or
,.,;
rugs, flower-tying, and fish processing (Birnbaum 1986: 242). Domestic space is \_ '~~
utilized for lavoro nero, at no cost to the merchant or middleman, for the piecework { <,
production of market-based goods. This kind of home-based work is highly
,_
e~e; because of its private nature, neither state regulations nor benefitss'<-v jb~.
and services apply to the workforce. Thus, since the earthquake and the changes
associated with social movements, poo~.~~~~!~!:!!._~i~_i1xare_more
involv~!Q!1_'!Landint~roatiQnal markets, Ironically, this involvement
has meant the increasing privatization of women's daily lives, as the low-paid ~,~!
,loc"A-

--_.~~.,~

. referenda (legalizing divorce in,1974_'!.l}g_,!poi}i.9-!!i!Ll281), the well-organized

The social and economic convulsions associated with the "economic miracle" of
the 1950s and 1960s formed the backdrop for the massive physical upheaval caused
by the destructive tfarthquake of 1968 in the Belice Valley. In fact, the earthquake
often serves as a histqxic..~t~!ledjl1-29~1~.!-!~_~ght, marking the irrevocable
, transformation of cons~rvative~ociety.~on, the econ9~~d
cultural integration into national society, and particularly the feminist movement,
----.-.-...
/'
would dramatically and peiTItanentty"impact Sicily," This changing society inhaiJltea
'new forms of domestic and public space in the towns reconstructed by the state

t
i.

l i ';'.

I.

I> ,

e",",,(t.--:;'

-143

l"',-.... . ~.~~,::'.}

,I

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

piecework of lavoro nero is added to the unpaid routines of housework and child
__,\
/1n shor.u the feminist movement and the recent economic changes have had
5'1.{ ,>'
'--=---'
____ ' varying consequences for the different classes of western Sicilian women,Middle
class women with college educations and professional jobs have challenged the
genaer-segregated patterns of the traditional agrotown by entering the public space
of formerly male workplaces, By contrast,-P9.2~n have been forced by
economic necessity to retreat further into the private zone of the house, combining
,.domestic work with marKet:b~~~d"~~d~"cti~~,'\VhiTe>an"r;;-cre;sing number of
;
__ ."'. _ _..._ ,........."'... ' ...."'.r
."..,._
",
,i>~ women (21 percent in 1973 to '!8'p~e'rcent in 1983) are working as domestics for
J~ families of professional women (Hellman 1987: 207), most women are responsible
~/
for the double d~ty ofunpa.id housework a~d .child care in addition to their paid
\-5'
work as professionals or pieceworkers, It IS III these contexts that women and
their families have reacted to the new structures of domestic space provided by
the state in the course of reconstruction after the earthquake,
car~:,,

.>

J . "

,vc'''''''',.''-~""'-:,''"':r',

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

streets and cortili in which women work, pass along information, and watch
children, are unrecognizably changed or absent altogether,
In the reconstructed settlements the architecture of gender is influenced by the
new arrangements of.public ingitutional buildings. Once dispersed up and down;'
the corso, the youth clubs, party headquarters, museums, and civic organizations)
are now centralized in or m:arnuwjl;;.jpallJ~s. M~6@bs, w~~_:-c=-o_m_m_o,:-ri
in the reconstructed areas, are no longer located in the shopping areas of the main
corso of the new towns, no longer integrated into the public space of men's
experience.
,
Patterns of gender-segregated shopping areas of the old towns have not been '" ,,,,,:~: r
reproduced in the new commercial districts. The new commercial zones are set
apart from the residential areas and favor access by automobile. These business
areas are closed in on themselves, more like the strip-malls of suburban America
/'-:
than the agrotown's corso, with its continual floworpeoesfiTIifJ.ana'car-i;;ffic.
\'f\~,

r
I,

While the shoppingareaofthecozso ~ad many func.t.ions,. the commercial centers\'\

",'-,

'J',<'/f;~

1\'

New Housingin Reconstructed Towns

cJ!'

A powerful earthquake struck the Belice Valley on January 14, 1968, It registered
eight on the Richter scale and was followed by nearly a hundred aftershocks.
Fourteen communities were destroyed or badly damaged, affecting a population
of almost 97,000 (for population figures of the 1961 census, see Renna 1979). In
terms of physical damage, initial assessment showed that 32 percent of the total
real estate holdings were leveled and another 24 percent were rendered uninhabit
able without extensive repairs (Caldo 1974: 53-7). These figures are now known
to be underestimates, As reconstruction proceeded, many more inhabitants claimed
house damage and applied to the state for financial assistance. Reconstruction of
well over half of all real estate brought about significant changes in the expectations
and experiences of settlement and housing for the inhabitants of the Belice
Valley towns.
The new form of settlement does little to reiterate the overall form of the
v..)C traditional agrotown'econstructed towns and neighborhoods instead recall

E~.~E:~:~ T~~>~~Jlnd ~.!!1}~fJca.pii2~~rs~~u.ibandevelop'~ents,b'ecause'they

were planneawith these models in mind (for Italy see Gregotti 1968: 80; for the
Belice see Renna 1979: 104 and De Bonis 1979: 121, 137). While the basic
functional components of the old towns - churches, schools, shopping districts,
government buildings, infrastructure, and housing - are found in the new, the
"
reconstructed towns are ~anged ~i.thQJJ,L!:eKere~~e to th~JraditionaLpattems of
'(\R.w'j(( ,~<-{,public-priYa!s:iil.wLm.ll.t~=fimJllh:space Df~ &gf9t6WJl. Dramatically altered are
",:, ,-',,;.
the arrangements of social space, such as main streets and piazze, where men
n ,~ exchange news, network for jobs, and pass the time. Furthermore, the neighborhood
-144

of the new towns are solely commercial; they only ,~~~tI~~a : !~:~;~L~~rn~ket
,,0;
manufactured.goods..._
{;"W"""~'A\ e",,"-'" $ . .>-c----~"
This singularity of purpose.is expressed architecturally. Structural design and
_
stylistic detailsoItl'ienewz~~es act as barriers that inhibit easy movement ancf~~:;~~v,
social interaction. In the commercial center of Montevago, for instance, the closedv-v ,,":)I.t..
cement walls surrounding the center are perforated only by an occasional window,
tiny and high over one's head (for photographs, see Renna, De Bonis and Gangemi
1979: 297-8). Within the block is a dense forest ofreinforced concrete pillars, topped
by a low, imposing, checkerboard ceiling of concrete. Needless to say, this area is
rarely used, and then only for shopping. Men spend little time in these shopping
blocks, perhaps because the defining activity - consuming - is so spatially
V
circumscribed. It is thus difficult to combine shopping with socializing, networking,
and seeing aIld,beings~~n, a-swell-;;;;thp~~-;iI'lg'throught~'-;th~;~as~'further 1 ''.
0 '
complicating the uses of the commercial zone is the accessibility afforded by the
automobile. As women are considered more protected and freer of movement in a
car, they more easily can and do enter the new public space to consume. Like men,
they enter and leave again immediately, after completing the given task. 10
These towns were each planned as a total unit, as ensembles, so to speak, with
little room for individual variation. They all had standardized housing projects
made of reinforced concrete, which were more similar to housing estates on the
peripheries of cities of the Italian North than to those Sicilian towns they were
built to replace. While these towns were long anticipated by those affected by the
earthquake, the in~!ladJl.!1leJnp.uUQ.!~~iL,~cture or design. It is therefore
not surprising that it was this form of integration into the national-eeesaecniral '""f';l<;;M.""
and. pla.!lnLn~l!tt~.1]12_E~presentedi n the__r.ec..QIls.t[llcted-~--that Sicilians,~"\t~~
especially Sicilian women, challenged and resisted.
"'~fi'''''''.1-....

..\

,,'-1'--.. . .

r-,":"'"-,

- 145 -

Yt..,'\: ~ At-r....' ~ , __\ K,(;, (J, . to.. '

e'<j""~ ~c.i ,>~.4.~_
~t_'."''''''''f:''''''''
.)

l_!--ILI '(ev",k.l "":) I, .. ~<I !_~

'.

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

The extent of reconstruction varied according to the degree of devastation and

the political will and power of the local officials. While some towns were rebuilt
completely, in others only certain neighborhoods were reconstructed. New housing
was of three basic types, roughly differentiated by financing arrangements, archi
'\,I
tectural styles, and locations within the reconstructed areas. Highly uniform housing
projects were planned and built entirely at state expense for the poorest residents.
, These tenants had no say whatsoever regarding the design or location of their
new houses. (See Figure 5.3 for a typical casa popolare or public housing unit.) A

. second type of housing is the state-subsidized cooperative, entered into by middle-

(I ',:,' class clerks and professionals. Different architects were hired to design these housing
-" '\ ,) projects, and there is more architectural variation among them. Residents can usually
~-l ,;'\
decide their own configuration of a standardized set of architectural components.
"'<of
(See Figure 5.4 for a common cooperative unit.) The third type ofhousing is private

, '
construction to which the state contributes a significant percentage of financing.

This kind of housing, although subject to less stringent regulations, demonstrates

a remarkable degree of regularity, probably because of the common standardized
.''tv
models used.

People's reactions to the new housing in the reconstructed towns and neighbor

.,
hoods
vary according to their levels of participation in determining the design of

~: ~)
their domestic space. Thus, there is less satisfaction with the popular housing and

"
v
, more with the private housing, with the cooperatives falling somewhere between.

C
Curving boulevards with houses set back behind iron-grill gates and driveways
into dusty yards give the reconstructed towns and neighborhoods -an expansive
look. They seem huge, open and empty. II In other areas of the new settlements,
apartment blocks squat on eight-foot-high concrete pylons. The shadowy ground
:-~~''''''\ floor is reserved as parking areas for cars. While the old towns were built on a
~~\..c.... scale suitable for pedestrians and beasts of burden, the movement and storage
~e-""'~ 10 of the automobile in large part determine the design and dimensions of the new
:;"rS~&.<'""towns.
The planners who designed the new towns and established the building codes
LL.~ 'te.J.\ and zoning regulations used an l,!f~a~_~~dle~lass model of domestic sp~, a
~r\:>L ~~that presumed the outside employment of women and consequently pre
:::):1;'~~ the home production of.domestic necessltles. 'l1i'e ~~w~ouse, urban and
o,~_ \a..,~ bourgeois in tone, emphasizes the privacy of an isolated ~(ear family. Its domestic
'V~ ,<...,.f- spatial arrangements differ in significant ways from the ~arller-1i6using designs of
the agrotown. The courtyards and front street areas, formerly the central locales
ofwomen's neighbo~networkingand domestic production, are entirely absent
in the new towns. They have been replaced by individually gated yards, enclosed
~ entryways, and Q~~king zones, all separating the house from the street ...E,rj"ate
:-~.'1,,;,,>:,,)domestic space is in~~~sT~gly detached from the surrounding s:I?i.~l?);t9lic space;
.. .".~ . \ro-"".'J\o)en~4_~?'it _~~tween
these two areas is no longer a simple question of stepping
---'__,_..._.__"_,__

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

BALCONY
(TERRAZZO)

CLOSET
(RIPOSTO)

~!III.

ENTRY
(INGRESSO)

_'_

-146 -

'

'

'I

1'1 II
I II II

~~

BEDROOM
(STANZA 01 LETO)

LIVING-DINING
ROOM
(SALA-SALOnO)

..

FIRST FLOOR
(PRIMO PIANO)

GROUND FLOOR
(PIANTERRENO)

,\
I

I' I r

BEDROOM
(STANZA 01 LETO)

l/\,

'I' I

t::::: t=

"',>,
..,

._.

/l.

It

>

(TERRAZZO)

KITCHEN
(CUCINA)

i),

~~.

BALCON~

I,'

_.:'

234
!

! METERS

Figure 5.3 Typical public housing unit. (Drawn by Brian Stadler),

BALCONY

(TERRAZZO)

BEDROOM
(STANZA 01
LEnO)

BEDROOM
(STANZA 01
LEnO)

LIVING ROOM
(SACOnO)

t-.
DINING ROOM
(SALA 01
PRANZO)

KITCHEN
(ANGOLO
COnURA)

LAVATORY
(GABINETIO)

BEDROOM
(STANZADI
LEnO)

LAUNDRY
(LAUANDERIA)

oI

1!

2!

f i

METERS

Figure 5.4 Typical cooperative housing unit (Drawn by Brian Stadler),

-147

f '

I.

.; ..... ' 0\

,~v<.-~

5,;-"'lJ~~;s~;~nd
the Construction ofFamily Life
.

LC.'l,\'I{'J> (,

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

"l~

-,

between kitchen and courtyard or street, but of crossing horizontal and'::~I!ical

obstacles of gate, yard, entryway, stairs, and parking area.
laSKslnarwere'oncedOlle-cooperati'~~ly-i~thesemi-public areas adjoining the
house can no longer be achieved communally in the new towns and neighborhoods.
The balcony, formerly a kind of elevated courtyard, is now placed at odd angles
facing away from other balconies, making simple conversation between households
all but impossible. Kitchens in the new housing projects are very small, aptly called
"cooking corners." These are placed at the back of the house, remote from the
public activity of the street. As a result of these architectural changes, women in
the
new settlements find it difficult to use semi-public space and find themselves
..J
\~""'}
more confined to the private interiors of the house.
The reconstructed settlements were not designed with the customs and traditions
tJ
of the earthquake victims in mind. I would argue that the planners hired by the
,/
state did not intentionally subvert the patterns of male-female space of the tradi
tional agrotown. In fact, in most cases, they did little to understand or acquaint
...1
themselves with the socioeconomic conditions and settlement patterns of the
"~ i":""'~f inhabitants of the damaged towns (De Bonis 1979: 139). Instead, the planners,
~
mostly men from northern Italy, h~'!J.~le experience with the Mediterranean codes
of gender segregation and honor and shame. They overlooKed thehiStorical spatial
r',l.v-\",~ patterns ~sso~i;;;d wIth gender segregation, with social interaction, and with men's
and women's employment (or lack of it) inside and outside the house. They used
models designed for bourgeois inhabitants in northern Europe and the United States.
The famou~";;~hit~~t~~Vittm:lo'Tjiegottin9(;8)' arguestnaCpfilnners everywhere
in Italy had as their overarching goals to stlD.f!ardizehouse form, improve "taste,"
and increase consumption by the masses (Gr~968: 79). The radical"tr~n's
formation of the dimensions and arrangements of public, semi-public, and private
space in the new Belice settlements appears to be an unintended consequence of
these goals.
In the new towns the public space of business is no longer open to the back
)..,.VV\
and- forth traffic of daily routines so important to men's politics and social life.
Instead, business space has become exclusivelycommercial, with physical bound
aries decisively marki;g it~"nmiis.iik~wi~~,the semi-public spaces of women's
work and social exchange are absent or inaccessible in the new towns. The new
houses were in fact d~~Q.fuLem..EI2X~~~~~en who would fulfill domestic
requirements on the market, consuming manufactured household products, clothes,
linens, and processed foodstuffs. In all respects, the new towns have been planned
for s;naQJ'llDilies in which both parents work outside the home, but neither in
agriculture. The~w housing was designed for a small, urban, middle-class family
as a place to consume, retreat from work and relax from the pressures associated
with secure, daily employment.

Women's Different Reactions to New Housing

\" \\

The housing of the reconstructed towns and neighborhoods was problematic

for the inhabitants, especially the women, of the agrotowns of western Sicily.
Both housewives and professional women found it. un_s~~i~fas~~ry, although for 6t.
different reaso~;'it~-de'slgnp-iecfud~d'horr;e production for housewives and its
uniformIty" and rules prohibiting modifications failed to fulfill the goals of pro- tJ '--.
fessional women for housing that was simultaneously a place of privacy, leisure, i
and display of class status. W!:ti~r"~.f!r~tgroup_ of \Vome!:! fC!un.d it,"!l~~~s.s.1:1..lyto
);;4" rr'
modify the state-provid~c!h~r.ofessiQnal women tooktse.more.dramatic
6';"'1< ,
and unpreceaenied-~t~p of rejecting the agglomerated. settlements. entirely.and
. ,,",'JJ,
m~ving'toffi~:~E..try~i(re~-."
--~.

oJ

I discuss the two reactions in turn. Many non-professional women who have
moved from housing in the old agrotown into the modernist reconstruction projects
have rejected the increasingly privatized domestic space. They have modified their
houses in an attempt to~ ~nstitHt@a ~patiaL~y.i.[9.nmenLconducive to home
proouctio-;'communal work, and the social interchange ofneighborhood networks.
These women still must work at home, making the year's supply of tomato sauce,
drying and processing nuts and fruits for Christmas sweets, embroidering sheets
and pillowcases for daughters' trousseaus, or, increasingly, turning out piecework
in the market forlallQr.1JJll:lJ. More importantly, their s cial ower" ests, in large .;:" ()-. v,'._ .,if

--------

ic:

o ..(

-148

.J

" \.l

par:h-Q!lJhe comI!J~~~en c.~:.ti~!'::~j~_!h~_S2.\!~~.~1r.~~!, ~~s of \

~~wn. They still want to"'OiScuss fhe village news WIth neighboring women, .
since their access to the male space of the corso remains limited by their work
requirements and their moral codes of proper female behavior. As most modifica
tions are prohibited in public housing projects, many.ris.k. fines to trjl.D~et
level gar~~~.02Dsl~f{)l:..ev.eryday ... ~s..~, storage, and seasonal
home-production activities. With their corrugated steel doors open, these kitchen
garages become semi-public s'lces like courtyards; passing women pull up chairs,
talk, sew, watch children, engag;r;;pi'ecewo~k,~nd prepare food together.
Other aspects of the new space in the reconstructed towns are also considered
A
objectionable. For instance, the ~L~~~a.ss nuclearfamily (parents and one or J)
" :!' lr"
t,.,,,.,.... I..'
two children), which the planners expected to inhabit these housing estates, does
f",.J
., !
not conform to the western Sicilian reality. Often the married couple is joined by
;\
\':-..-..:...;...
more children or a grandparent. Many inhabitants in the state housing projects
" './
have closed in the new, rarely-used balconies (located off bedrooms) to increase
their limited interior space and provide additional sleeping areas. Transgressing
the rules of the government housing office for the sake of propriety, inhabitants
claim the need for separate bedrooms for children of different sexes and grand
parents. Alternatively, some have used the balcony areas to increase the size and
prestige of the formal day areas of living or dining rooms.

D"'0)

c'

.. '"'

"'}.
j
:

"

",'

c.

-149

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

I
')

Home modifications in the housing projects also bear on conceptions of gender

and space. A working-class informant, Giuseppina, lives with her widowed father
and younger brothers. She has installed a hot plate and a sink in the garage to
adapt it better for cooking. Tired of sharing a bedroom with a brother, she has had
a comer balcony closed in to make a private bedroom for herself. Her attempt to
carve out her own space appears odd, however, since she owns a house in the
same state housing project two doors down, the right to which she inherited from
a grandparent. When asked why they risked fines and legal troubles for the
modifications ofher father's house, she referred to the moral code regarding women
and space. "Daughters and windows are always in danger," (Figlie e vetri son
sempre in pericolo), she said, quoting a proverb about women's vulnerability. She
)F- added, "It wouldn't be right to live all alone." When pressed, she agreed she
", was worried less about her personal safety in that crowded and therefore well
. .:,
J"
~upervised neighborhood than about people criticizing her and her father for
..../ 'v.' . improper behavior. Living alone would indicate her potential sexual freedom and
:
f
,:- her father's and brothers' lack of concern regarding her honor. The house two
oors down will sit empty until she marries.
,f
Another informant, Carmela, lives with her young sons, husband, and mother
in a second-story apartment in the reconstructed zone. She too has tnwsfQoned
th~rage into a k~hen, but uses it primarily for storage and seasonal food
preparation. Although she worked for years in a cafe before marriage, she now
avoids leaving the house, to the point of buying most of the family food from
travelling vendors whose goods she hoists up in a basket to her second-story
apartment. She explained, "It doesn't seem right. I have a family to care for; people
would think I was neglectful if! went traipsing about town."
Aside from the majority of women who work at home and live in the new
housing projects, a minority of women have received university education and
work outside the home, often in the new jobs associated with reconstruction in
'>.
local government offices. These women discuss their entry into the public spaces
of offices, the corso, and even the cafes (social clubs remain strictly off-limits to
women) in terms of a conscious challenge to past cultural norms regarding the
exclusivity of male domains. They see themselves as the local forerunners of the
feminist movement. "We brought feminist consciousness to this tiny town,"
proclaimed one proudly. They recount the insulting remarks made to them by men
and women alike, reassuring me that only the poor, uneducated, and provincial
would stoop so low as to criticize their courageous conquest of public space.
Thes~_jK~.Jhe..W.omeR who, with their families, have begun to re~ct town
r~}dence in favor of dispersed ss:ttlemeD~countryside. Althoughthis
alternative was not offered as part of the state-provided plans for reconstructed
settlements, it is a possibility permitted by the territorial zoning plans and by the
recent provision of rural infrastructure such as roads and electricity lines.
,

." r

-ISO

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

The residential dispersion has occurred in two phases. Since the late 1970s,
the upp~ iddle.>-.aodth!;,:JL.the.lUiddle...claSs.~Lh_i!y~_~t:gll~~e~J~:b;;ild
country houses for summer residence. Prior to the earthquake, farmhouses were
being abandoned. throughout the Sicilian countryside. The typical rural house at
that time was little more than a tool shed - twenty-five to thirty square meters,
without windows or plumbing (Caldo 1974: 53). Now most old and new towns
are close~ringed by ~ispersed vill~s in a~~as pr~viously devoted to a~riculture.
In these-VlTl~, professionals and their families enjoy a few months ofpnvacy and
selectiveaptSreciation of the peasant heritage. While architecturally these villas
often imitate elements of rustic buildings, with wooden archways and woodburning bread ovens, these houses are specifically designed for non-agriculturalists

\ \.

~r

in pursuit of leisure, fr~e from the social control exerted i~ the cro.wded neighbor-j ,>.,' J r }
hoods of the town. This new pattern of settlement - a wmter residence for work ":Yo' .'
and town living, a summer residence for recreation and country life - served
'-'
as the precedent for the more dramatic, yet still uncommon, move to relocate
permanently in the countryside.
Professional women and their families were the first to move out of town. This co,oJ, ,"';',';'1..
group of women may make and store tomato sauce or embroider in their spare
time, not out of economic necessity but to savor the authentic experience of home
\I'd
production. They need not participate in labor exchange networks with other\&- ,
women, as they can easily purchase housework, child care, commercially prepared
..' ;.,;"
foodstuffs, and linens. They have access to social information from the public
.
c "
sphere by virtue oftheir professional jobs outside the home. They do not need the
1/
conditions of communality afforded by housing in the agglomerated settlement.
Nor do they need to modify this housing to take better advantage of domestic
work space and neighborhood networks.
.r
It is in this context that professional women and their families hjr~::e moved out
of the centralized towns to the suburban rings around them. It is ~!5' that these
,~,~"'~,
women, most influenced by: feminis!? and thus more likely to be working for wages,
in the fernLn..ist
are not linked to the communal n_~r.ks-oLw'Qmen promoted
.'w.
"..-..........
program. Instead, they have retreated into the more isolated and ~ar
family, an institution eschewed by the feminist thinkers.
---....
The decision of a professional couple to settle permanently in what was once
the unpopulated agricultural hinterland, together with the opposition they encount
ered from friends and family, indicate slowly changing conceptions of residence,
at least among a small segment of the population. As an informant, Giovanna,
explained, she strove for the comforts associated with classic suburban living
gardens, privacy, quiet, and safe play areas for children. Working in town, both .. J_
she and her husband were tired of constant contact with people by the end of the
day. She found particularly appealing the "privacy" (they use the English word,
indicating the foreignness of the concept in the agrotown) of their country house.

"::.

\.. <:-,'

_.

.-

- 151

__ ~< ... ~~ _ _

~-~-""'F--.'>

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<::J

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

Houses and the Construction ofFamily Life

as a place of male agricultural employment. Furthermore, it is considered distant

from the important networks of female kin, neighbors, and friends. Guiseppina
and Carmela, like many poor women living in the new public housing projects,/
view themselves as the true bearers ofan authentic cultural tradition. They denigrat~:r) ,
the more educated women for being seduced by what they see as foreign, super-?
ficial, and ultimately destructive urban moral codes.
As educated women have begun to enter the workforce, they have contradicted
the ideals of male exclusivity in public spaces. These women see their conquest
of public space as a model to be emulated by less educated poorer women. They
,\ ,J.}
think it their responsibility to introduce and enact modem ideals of sexual equality (fi/
," ,J
to provincial people living under a shadow of outmoded moral codes. These women~l / ~ 1" ,
encourage their daughters to enter the public arenas of the town and scoff at women 11I, ~r,'1'\"',/ ):(
who restrict their daughters' movements in these actions, in these places.
" .r"')
\ , ' -".
These professional women and their families are pursuing a new residential
\1'/'
option in the Belice Valley by settling permanently in the countryside. They are
-;~~\."
leaving the agglomerated agrotowns and reconstructed areas because they find
their lives there constricted. They have not only contested the moral codes regarding
sexual geography, they have also physically removed themselves from the particular
settlement formation associated with these codes, in their attempt to establish new
patterns of social behavior in new spaces.
In contemporary western Sicily we find two different responses to the moral
codes regarding gender and space, both associated with specific class positions
and possibilities. Using modifications, poorer women have challenged the bour

Coming home from work she was assured peace and quiet, fre~dom~from~the
surveillance of the town gossip's, and relative safety~fro;; impromptu visits from
nelghbors-and-c~~~~~rsati;;~~";-cross balconies. She and her husband had no
intention, however, of returning to the peasant occupations of their parents and
grandparents. For this couple, the country no longer connoted hard work in lonely
11' fields, but a new residential alternative. They saw themselves linked to an inter
"-J national culture of suburban living by virtue of their particular housing preference.
As a consequence of their professional employment outside the home, they were
propelled to relocate away from the concentrated settlements.

~'

\.

Conclusion

0'

'~

''0
....

",'1

-,~

~.

t"",

'\
.\

..

or

<.,

.,

~>

'-)

"-'-

~)

In this chapter I have discussed ways in which settlement transformation and

variation in women's employment opportunities have influenced notions of male
and female space. Most of the residents of the state housing projects in the recon
structed towns come from the class of poor agriculturalists. They have modified
their housing to better accommodate the requirements of women's work and social
space. They view the urban character ofthe old and new concentrated settlements
as an essential feature of civility, and their ideas of how men and women should
occupy space in town are important in the conduct of their everyday lives. Women
the lower classes still attempt to avoid male public space - the piazza and the
orso - whenever possible. They often criticize the upper-middle-class women
r working outside the home and entering these spaces on a regular basis. Profes
slonal women are occasionally accused of flaunting themselves in male arenas.
urthermore, outside employment is viewed by some as a form of family neglect.
It remains a question whether poor women sanction professional women as an
expression of resentment at their own lack ofjob opportunities outside the home.
A complex irony is that poor women have now achiev~Jh~Jrad~ of
female honor set E.y.the ~n.ili1dlecrass In mefia(ifti~al ~Q~r to the

geois ar:t:ang~~f~9.~:~!i,~_~p.~(;.~1'.r.2i!~-e(rbytIie-arCfiitect~.<?Ltb.I<".s1.11t.e:but\
have accepted the model of public-private res1:rlciions on gender assumed in the \
past by the middle class. While professional women claim to challenge the patterns
of sex-segregated space, they have chosen to abandon this space to establish their \
domestic life outside the town. Thus, the attempt to challenge and transform the ~
architecture of gender in the western Sicilian settlement has ultimately resulted in .
patterns ofins,;J.eased~,gr~~tion, with both stylistic difference and geograph
ical distance further separating the poor and the middle classes.
This chapter points to the serious issue of how class intersects with women's
work and changing domestic space to perpetuate segregation. Recognition of this
unintended yet nonetheless important dynamic in the social process of spatial
transformation will better inform the policy and design of planned housing.

earthq~ke~!i~-o:.?_~~~TEOr~~!ofesslii0~~:!J~.~~=-~itheir

lives in ways similar to those of poor women in the past. Prior to the economic
mi~a~I~: iower:crass womenwere forced to compromise their honor by working
outside the home as field hands, domestics, midwives, or herbalists." Although
the countryside was considered dangerous, especially for women, many often passed
part of the year in the rural farmhouse (the baglio or massaria). Others did work
that spilled easily out onto the street or the courtyard. Only with the prosperity of
the postwar period did lower-class women return to the confines of the house for
work. Women's work just for one's own family in one's own home was viewed as
a way to restore and maintain the family honor.
The move to thecountryside of professional women and_th~irJamilies is
inc?!!1J~r~lwnsiWe~to..many.llQo!~! women. The countryside is still seen by most

- 152

Notes
I. Sanctions against women entering the male space of the coffee bars were
rigid. A neighbor worked in a bar as a young woman and ten years later still
remembers with bitter resentment the way she was snubbed by townspeople

j.,'.," '.,
",;;,

.~

- 153

Houses and the Construction

2.

3.

4.
5.

6.

7.

8.

0/ Family Life

for engaging in work located in such an exclusively male place. She is poor and
uneducated, and sees her foray into the workforce as a humiliation of poverty,
not gender.
For important analyses of the symbolic components associated with class
and with gender in the Mediterranean agrotown, see Gilmore (1980) and
Giovannini (1981), respectively.
Children could act as chaperones, perhaps because women with children sym
bolically declare their status as mothers to onlookers, a role that makes them
both less aggressive and less vulnerable in male space.
Recalling the Arab settlement, Fernea (1965) tells ofIraqi women demonstrating
sexual modesty by using the same roundabout routes to avoid entering the male
space of the town center. For narratives on women's experiences of avoiding
male areas in Sicilian towns, see Booth 1988.
This division of houses into "night" and "day" spaces is a local conceptualization
shared by residents and architects.
Ernestine Friedl (1975) correlates gender stratification with work patterns to
point out that in societies where men and women work in close contact there
tend to be relatively higher levels of gender equality than in societies where
men and women work apart and where gender inequality is more pervasive.
From this, we would expect relations between men and women in Sicilian
middle-class families to be more patriarchal than relations between men and
women in poor families.
Denis Mack Smith points out the uneven nature ofthis modernization in western
Sicily. While mafia interests blocked industrialization, fearing the development
of an educated proletariat, those same mafia interests were deeply involved
with the speculative building boom of the 1960s, where planning rules and
building codes were ignored in the tremendous explosion of construction in
cities and agricultural towns. Yet Mack Smith concedes that the large-scale
social changes ofthe 1960s associated with feminism, emigration, and increased
communications did interfere with the hegemonic hold ofthe mafia over western
Sicily (Mack Smith 1968: 539-42).
Judith Hellman, in a study of Italian feminism, claims that while northern cities
each had its own specific problems in mobilizing women, in the South the
feminist movement faced all the problems found in the North combined, plus
others (Hellman 1987: 184).
An eccentric gadfly in a small town in western Sicily wanted to reach women,
who he thought would be more sympathetic to his criticisms of the entrenched
powerholders. He complained that they did not hear his speeches in the main
piazza, so to reach them he marched into every cortile and sidestreet, stood up
on the table he carried under his arm, and held forth. While many thought he
was crazy, his point on the location offemale audiences was valid and accurate.
-154

Gender and Space in Changing Sicilian Settlements

9. There has been a steady decline in fertility and family size since the Second
World War in Italy, which might be correlated with the increased numbers of
women working in the labor force.
10. One can only speculate how this commercial space will be used in the future.
Will it become a place of men's information and exchange? Will it retain its
singular function as a space of consumption? It remains a question as to how
the inhabitants will use and change it.
II. In fact, the population density of the newly reconstructed towns is much lower
than that of the old towns.
12. At the end of the last century, poor women's occupations were more varied
yet. In an 1897 survey of women's work, medical healing and witchcraft, public
mourning and weeping, trousseau appraisal and matrimonial mediation were
mentioned along with agricultural work, reproductive intervention, and petty
commodity trading (Salomone-Marino 1981).

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-6

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Suburbanizing Rural Lifestyles Through

House Form in Southern Portugal

Denise Lawrence-Zuniga

At first blush, Vila Branca appears as any other rural southern Iberian castle town,
with its whitewashed houses and their red tiled roofs clustered tightly together
atop a defensible hill. At one end sits the twelfth-century Reconquista castle, at
the other is the main church. Quaint and traditional- until one sees the grid-like
arrangement of shiny new suburban-style homes spread around the western base
of the hill. One of the most significant changes in Western family life during the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been the increasing importance of the
material aspects of home in relation to family life, a trend largely associated with
the growth of the industrial bourgeois classes. Nineteenth-century European
middle-class urbanites in particular began promoting house form not only as a
means for improving physical standards of living, especially in early industrial
cities where housing was notoriously lacking in hygienic provisions, but also as a
vehicle for intentionally changing the values and behaviors of working-class
families. The appropriation of bourgeois and later modern house forms in rural
areas, including the suburban-style detached house, signifies a major shift in rural
family lifestyles and values.
Over the last hundred years, and especially since the late 1970s, rural Portuguese
communities have witnessed notable transformations of their physical environ
ments as changes in residential forms, construction technologies and planning ideas
have taken hold. These material transformations have also had powerful effects
on family and community life. This study explores the impact of changing house
forms, most recently detached and semi-detached suburbanized housing, in a rural
agrotown in southern Portugal, and traces some of its effects on family life. It
investigates the power of material culture as an agent of change and contemporary
house form as an instrument for shifting the significance of the rural home from a
center of work and family sociability to a container for the pursuit of family and
individual privacy. Further, it explores some ofthe competing ideals of home and
domesticity that find somewhat anomalous expression in local built forms, which
fragment and recombine meanings and uses of urban models into new and unantici
pated configurations.'
-157

-156

........