A US base community in Vicenza can approach ten percent of a city’s population

Evidence

Today, arriving at the Venice International Airport, one finds a small nondescript office labeled, in English, VICENZA COMMUNITY. The office serves the ten thousand or so English speakers in the Vicenza area, a number equal to almost 10 percent of the city’s population. These are the military personnel, family members, and civilians living and working on and around a constellation of bases scattered throughout the city. Even before Dal Molin’s construction, the installations included a major headquarters, an underground weapons storage facility (which housed nuclear weapons during the Cold War), another underground base, depots, and a large gated housing development known as the Villaggio della Pace, the American Peace Village. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 752

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader base-nation demographic footprint theme developed throughout the book.