The first episode of this new Urbinary cycle investigates how systems of labour exploitation shape space, focusing on rural southern Italy. It explores the phenomenon of Caporalato—the informal recruitment of agricultural workers—not merely as an illegal labour practice, but as a spatial and political infrastructure sustaining global food systems. The episode navigates themes of informality, temporariness, and exclusion, tracing how settlements like La Pista emerge from the intersections of migration, state absence, and economic extraction. These spaces, often viewed as peripheral or non-urban, challenge conventional urban categories and highlight the centrality of so-called margins within contemporary capitalism. By reinterpreting the rural as an active site of production and power, the episode raises critical questions: what defines a city, and what kinds of spaces are produced at its edges?
A Thing By is a documentary collective. Known for their film One Day One Day, the group investigates themes of migration, labour, and spatial justice through audiovisual storytelling. Their work on caporalato began in 2020, shaped by global conversations on race and rights, and led them to document everyday life in Borgo Mezzanone. Their lens offers a powerful visual entry point into the lived realities of informal settlements.
Olmo Parenti is a documentary filmmaker and director, known for feature-length films such as Not Everything Is Black (2019), One Day One Day (2022) — winner of the 2022 Cipputi Prize — and Red Valley: We Are What We Listen To (2022). He also directed the documentary series Junk: Armadi Pieni for Sky. Since 2020, he has been part of the creative collective A THING BY. In 2024, he directed the short documentary Real People, which was selected for competition at Visioni Italiane 2024.
Marco Zannoniis a filmmaker, producer, and co-founder of A THING BY, a Milan-based creative collective dedicated to producing reality-infused visual content ranging from music videos and documentaries to photo reportages and social campaigns. With a background in Organization Science from the University of Milan-Bicocca, Marco blends a sharp organizational mindset with a deep passion for visual storytelling. Since 2019, he has led A THING BY, collaborating with a network of international creatives to craft impactful narratives that resonate across media platforms. He is also a partner at Scuola Fatoma, a non-profit promoting education and migrant integration in southern Italy. Previously, Marco worked as a filmmaker and photographer with CoMa Prod. and LOOK MI S.r.l., focusing on fashion campaigns and music video production. He also co-founded K.O. Music, an independent music label aimed at empowering emerging artists.
Erminia Rizzi
Erminia S. Rizzi has been working on forced migration and asylum law since 1996. A legal practitioner specialized in immigration and asylum law, she is a member of ASGI – Association for Legal Studies on Immigration and a founding member of G.L.R. – Refugee Working Group, a Bari-based non-profit organization active since 1998 and registered in the national registry of ONLUS under the category “Protection of Civil Rights.” Within GLR, she provides legal information and guidance to asylum seekers, refugees, and unaccompanied minors, assisting with applications for international protection, family reunification, and regularization of legal status. She also coordinates multidisciplinary support paths within SPRAR/SAI projects for vulnerable minors and has served as an honorary judge at the Juvenile Court since 2008.
Camilla Rondot
Camilla Rondotis an architect by training and currently a PhD candidate in Urban Planning at IUAV Venice. During her studies at the Politecnico di Torino and a formative experience in Lisbon, she developed a deep interest in urbanism. Her master’s thesis, focused on Borgo Mezzanone and the spatial dimensions of labour exploitation in the Foggia area, became the basis for her monograph Diritto all’opacità. Her work explores how informal settlements emerge and persist at the intersection of rurality, migration, and structural marginalisation.
Resources
Suggested readings
Parenti, O. (Regista). (2022). One day one day [Film]. Italia: Will Media; A Thing By.
Steinbeck, J. (1939). The grapes of wrath. New York, NY: Viking Press.
Rondot, C. (2022). Abitare l’opacità. Gli spazi rurali di Borgo Mezzanone (Collana Alleli | Research, n. 120). LetteraVentidue. ISBN 978-8862427364
Castells, M. (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements. University of California Press.
Cuppini, N., & Peano, I. (Eds.). (2019). Un mondo logistico: Sguardi critici su lavoro, migrazioni, politica e globalizzazione. Ledizioni. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.ledizioni.11180
Jacobin Italia. (2024). La guerra all’università (n. 24) [Rivista trimestrale]. Roma: Edizioni Alegre. ISBN 979-1255600268
IREF. (s.d.). Dentro la pista di Borgo Mezzanone: una ricerca esplorativa sulla riproduzione della marginalità nello slum dei braccianti stranieri (Cristiano Caltabiano). Istituto di Ricerche Educative e Formative (IREF).
Rondot, C. (2021). Alterazioni rurali: Il caso di Borgo Mezzanone. Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, 2(2), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.13128/contest-12977
Roy, A. (2005). “Urban Informality: The Production of Space and Urban Life in a Neoliberal World”. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
Roy, A. (2005). Urban informality: Toward an epistemology of planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(2), 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944360508976689
Davis, M. (2006). Planet of slums. London: Verso.
Dovey, K. (2024). Informality as the Ur-form of urbanity: Keeping the Ur- in urban studies. Urban Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980241230730
Chiodelli, F., & Moroni, S. (2014). “The complex nexus between informality and the law: reconsidering unauthorised settlements in light of the concept of nomotropism”.
Kaika, M., Varvarousis, A., Demaria, F., & March, H. (2023). “Urbanizing degrowth: Towards a radical spatial degrowth agenda for future cities”. Urban Studies, 60. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980231162234
