Il Fournarino

The thoughts below are Pasolini's, from an interview for Il Mondo, with Guido Vergani, July 11, 1974. The translation is by a friend and is unpublished, used with permission:

There was a time when the baker – the cascherino, as we call him here in Rome – was constantly, eternally gay: a true gaiety, that sparkled in his eyes. He would walk around on the streets whistling and throwing out witty, sometimes cutting remarks [motti]. There was a sort of irresistible vitality about him. He was dressed much less well than today: his trousers were full of patches, and his shirt was often little more than a rag. However, all of this fit into a model that in his little quarter [borgata] of the city was worth something, meant something. And he was proud of it. He could oppose the world of wealth with a world of his own that was equally worthwhile. When he arrived in the house of a rich family, it was with a laugh that had something fundamentally anarchic about it, that eroded the aura of everything – and this even though he was maybe quite respectful. It was however the respect of a person who felt profoundly estranged from what was going on there. Anyway, the thing that matters is that the guy was happy.