They are figures of gentle mockery who can be seen at roadworks and building sites all over Italy.
Elderly men in flat caps and anoraks, or shirtless in summer, their hands clasped behind their backs, peer intently through security fences and offer unsolicited advice to any construction worker prepared to listen.
An Italian city has now decided to put these perceived busybodies, known as umarell, to good use.
The word comes from a dialect spoken in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna and literally means “little man”, but has become synonymous with elderly men who frequent building sites.
In Turin, habitual umarell will be recruited as volunteers to report safety problems, security concerns and undue delays to public works. The city council says the men – often retired engineers, builders or city planners – are an untapped resource.
The umarell, as they are called, will be given a ‘sentinel’ role in Turin
They will no longer just stand around, gawping at works in progress, but will become key “sentinels” who will “improve surveillance, security and communication with the public during construction projects”, according to Simone Fissolo, a city councillor who came up with the idea.
He put forward a motion to the council entitled “Involvement of umarell in public construction sites”, and it was passed resoundingly this week, with 18 councillors in favour and four against.
Mr Fissolo pointed to the “high number of construction sites across the city” and the challenge of monitoring how they are progressing.
Umarell watch the progress of the repaving of Via Rizzoli in Bologna
Many Italian towns and cities are taking advantage of nearly €200bn (£168bn) in post-pandemic recovery funds, given to the country by the EU, to spruce up piazzas and palazzi, pedestrianise streets, build underpasses, repair potholes and restore historic sites.
“Other councils have developed schemes which involve pensioners who have technical qualifications monitoring public works as a means of improving monitoring and the quality of the work being undertaken,” the councillor said.
He cited the example of Villasanta, a town near Monza in northern Italy, which pioneered the concept in 2024.
Roving squads of volunteer umarell will shortly be deployed across Turin. They have no formal enforcement powers, but will report problems to the city authorities.
Umarell will report problems to the city authorities
The scheme is being hailed as a way of offering a useful role to elderly members of the community who find themselves with too much time on their hands after retirement. A pilot projec, it will be reviewed within six months.
The concept of umarell has become a part of Italian popular culture, celebrated in blogs, memes and on social media.
They are so ubiquitous that in 2020 the city of Pescara decided to make a special concession, placing transparent panels in the hoardings surrounding building sites so that retirees could peer through and satisfy their curiosity.
The little windows were accompanied by the message: “A tribute to pensioners, a neighbourhood resource.”