Italian town launches "umarell project" to involve elderly volunteers in monitoring public works

Apr 10, 2025 115

BY: We the Italians Editorial Staff

If there's a construction site in Italy, there's probably an elderly person nearby with their arms crossed behind their back, carefully watching the progress of the work. It's such a recurring sight that it has even inspired social media pages that post pictures of these tireless inspectors, for whom a real neologism has been coined: "umarell" (an Emilian term meaning "little man" or "retiree").

In fact, the word was born only 17 years ago, and it’s emblematic of how the Web can exponentially increase the use of certain expressions in our vocabulary. But is there a way to make this productive? The municipality of Villasanta in the Monza province of Lombardy has thought of a solution.

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