Abandoned cars lose their original function and become containers, devices which the city takes possession of, because they have been stolen, or because their owners are often foreigners and have left the city or country. Stripped-down wrappers, available to anyone who wants to use them in some way, before they are destroyed forever by municipal bureaucracy. They live their new lives, particularly at night, and become a refuge where people sleep, eat, drink and take shelter from the rain and people’s gazes. The new occupiers are homeless Italians or foreigners. There have also been extreme cases of couples using them while they are waiting to be allocated social housing, or unemployed workers who have lost their homes.
It isn’t easy to recognise a reused car. Sometimes, the second life of a car only lasts for a few days, and the person using it leaves no trace. Car-homes are light, momentary objects which are mostly imperceptible.