In the hinterlands of Naples a revolution is afoot: locals are taking the fight to the mafia and their weapon of choice is the humble book.
Tucked away between squats and roadside traders of broken toys rises the first bookshop in nearly 50 years.
The concrete sprawl of Scampia, a bastion of the ruthless Camorra organised crime group, was immortalised in the 2006 book ‘Gomorrah’ by Roberto Saviano and in a popular spin-off film and television series.
Now one of the poorest areas in southern Italy is attempting to cast off the stereotype of Kalashnikov-wielding teens and get its young off the streets by flooding the turf with theatre, cinema and literature associations.
“There has never been a bookshop here. We had to travel 10 km to buy a book,” said Rosario Esposito La Rossa, whose shop ‘Scugnizzeria’ opened a week ago.
The idea for the store, which also has a room for theatre and study groups, followed the death of La Rossa’s relative Antonio, caught in the crossfire of a 2004 shoot-out.
“He was hit by two bullets as he played table football, but police said he had links to the drug lords of Colombia. We fought for 10 years to clear his name. It became a cultural battle for our neighbourhood,” he said.
When La Rossa inherited the Marotta&Cafiero publishing house in 2010 he moved it to Scampia to continue the fight.
“There were those who said we would close within a few weeks because no-one reads in Scampia, it has the highest illiteracy rate in southern Italy. Seven years on and we have published 88 books,” he said.
The 29-year old is just the tip of an iceberg of change slowly edging its way across the northern suburb of Naples.
Naples’ Federico II university, one of the world’s oldest, is set to open a new faculty in the area.
Daniele Sanzone co-founded Scampia Trip Tour to challenge the area’s brutal image in the press and popular culture and show off its positive side.
“The Camorra exists, we would be mad to deny it. But there is so much more, small organisations which become garrisons of legality,” from football clubs to Italy’s first Italian-Roma restaurant, he said.
“But I am convinced that in 10 years time this place will be transformed,” La Rossa said. — AFP
Ella Ide
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
