LEONARDO
PETRUCCI

In Torpignattara, a historic neighbourhood in Rome, the Bangladesh community represents one of the most significant examples of how migration and identity can redefine the urban fabric.


Between the old public housing from the 1930s and the more recent constructions which were built for “foreigners” who came to Rome to work from other regions of Italy, stories of migration, adaptation, and integration are still intertwined today.

The Bangladesh community, which is one of the largest in Italy (around 150,000 people), brings with it not only its own cultural traditions, but also a rich religious diversity, with Islam and Hinduism coexisting in a dialogue within the community.

I had the opportunity to document the daily life of a community that, despite facing challenges related to integration, has transformed the neighbourhood into a unique cultural mosaic.

Through images that show hundreds of cultural facets, the project offers an intimate look at how these people live and how they build a new home away from their native homes, Basha in Bangla.
Hindu women walk at the foot of the Alexandrian aqueduct at Sangalli Park during the Annaprashan (weaning) of Aanshika Ghosh, a 7-month- old girl.

View from one of the windows of the Bangladeshi culture school of Sultana Sushmita.
An entire muslim family, From the oldest member to the youngest, they prepared for the last prayer of Ramadan "Eid-Il-Fitiri, in the Sangalli park.
View of Torpignattara, here in the central part of the district, the oldest area.



At the end of the parade through the neighborhood, we return in front of the Sarbojonin Hindu Puja Mondir.
During the celebrations of "Diwali" the lights of the temple are turned off, the only light comes from these small flames that many hold between their fingers.
During Annaprashan women in their own tradition collect water from a river that will be blessed by the Brahmin, water used to bathe the child before the first rice is taken. There isn’t a river in Torpignattara, so the women collect water from a Nasone (a
Sultana in her home making green tea with ginger.
Hindu girls play in the Sarbojonin Hindu Puja Mondir, the largest Hindu temple in the neighborhood, founded in 2014.
Clothes street market. Many women bring clothes and objects, setting up stalls, to sell their goods.
One of the many houses in the neighborhood to have many livability problems. Often the rents of these houses are quite high anyway.
Mousumi and the other women wait while preparing for Iftar which symbolizes the breaking of the Ramadan fast
We stay to chat in the square of the Sangalli park after the last prayer of Ramadan "Eid-Il-Fitiri"
They arrived on the beach of Ostia to disperse the symbols of Durga.



During the "Durga Puja" the Hindu community organized various events in different places in the area. In this photo, they celebrate in the great hall of one of the Catholic churches in the neighborhood.
During Durga Puja, one of the most important annual Hindu festivals in South Asia that celebrates the goddess Durga, Sanjoy Das dives into the water from the beach of Ostia to disperse in flowers that symbolize the figure of Durga, this is the ending of t
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