If you’ve traveled to Italy, you may have noticed small groups of older men, seemingly riled up and speaking loudly, sometimes with their hands behind their backs. Once you get closer, you may hear them offering heated but unsolicited advice primarily about construction and street repairs but also about the economy and politics. 

Bologna (in the region of Emilia Romagna) is the epicenter of the umarell phenomenon because it was here that Danilo Masotti, a writer, blogger, and communications expert, literally wrote the book on and coined the term umarell in 2005.