Umarell: the building-site supervisors

You’ll spot him at once: a retired man, hands clasped behind his back, often leaning on a barrier. He watches the workers closely and comments from time to time. He is the umarell, from the dialect umarèl, “little man”.

The term was popularised by the Bolognese writer Danilo Masotti, who described this figure with affection and irony. Since then the word has left Bologna, appeared in national newspapers and finally made it into Italian dictionaries.

How to become an umarell

• Posture: hands behind the back, compulsory.
• Position: as close to the site as possible, without getting in the way.
• Expertise: “In my day they’d have put that beam the other way round.”
• Dedication: every day, same time.

With the big building projects of recent years, from the Garisenda to the new tram lines, umarells have never been busier. Some say that without them the works would go even slower. Nobody has ever dared to check.