Military demand distorted local housing so badly Italians pretended to be Americans

Evidence

As at many other locations, the military presence around Vicenza also distorted the local housing market. When Vicenza native Enzo Ciscato and U.S.-born Annetta Reams started looking for a home as newlyweds in the 1980s, Ciscato remembers, the preference for renting to soldiers’ families was so great that they had trouble finding an apartment. Eventually, a friend introduced them to someone in the housing office of Vicenza’s main base, Caserma Ederle. When the staffer learned that Reams was an American, he said, “Oh that’s great!” Then he told Ciscato to “shut up” when visiting apartments. “Act like a couple of Americans, because if they know you are Italian, they will not rent to you.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 899

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Housing-market distortion parallels the infrastructure claims in the trees article’s broader argument about bases reshaping host communities.