-Poverty in Italy, in the last thirteen years, has been increasing exponentially, a social phenomenon without precedent since the end of the Second World War. Despite the country being the 8th power in the World and the 3rd in Europe, in a report of June 2022 by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) in Italy 5.6 million people were living in conditions of poverty, 1.9 million of them families, a million more people in 2020 alone. This represents 9,4% of the country’s population, the worst number since 2005.
In March 2020 Italy was the epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic in the West. This event, together with the economic crisis of the previous years, exacerbated its fragile economic system, bringing the country to the verge of a socio-economic collapse. At the height of the pandemic, the number of people in need doubled but the capacity of the homeless shelters was drastically reduced. Every day long queues of people waited in line for a bag with staple food. In addition, the forced isolation increased cases of depression and loneliness, compromising people’s stability and generating a progressive detachment from society.
During the years the country has also seen the gradual vanishing of the middle class and the crystallization of a new phenomenon known as the New Poor. Many people with occasional jobs started to live in a limbo of uncertainty, oscillating between homelessness and the anxiety of losing their precarious occupations. NGOs have tried to temporarily solve the problem by offering social jobs that guarantee a minimum monthly wage. The result of decades of ineptitude and indifference on the part of Government is tangible also in the country’s infrastructure. Many houses and buildings have been abandoned, others have been occupied by families to avoid life in the street.
In September 2022 the last Italian Election saw the advent of a new far right Government, led by Giorgia Meloni. Among the firsts steps of her mandate the new Prime Minister abolished from the year 2024 the “Reddito di Cittadinanza” a basic income subsidy created in 2019 that has become a lifeline for many people and families hit by the economic crisis.
Since 2018 the photographer has traveled from the North to the South of Italy, paying special attention to the city of Milan, the economic powerhouse of the country, documenting the ongoing socio-economic deterioration of one of the richest countries in the world.
ON GOING PROJECT.
Milan, Italy, January 16th 2023. A man walking with his dog in a field in the Baggio neighborhood, on the outskirts of Milan. Poverty in Italy, in the last thirteen years, has been increasing exponentially, a social phenomenon without precedent since the end of the Second World War. Despite the country being the 8th power in the World and the 3rd in Europe, in a report of June 2022 by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics) in Italy 5.6 million people were living in conditions of poverty, 1.9 million of them families, a million more people in 2020 alone. This represents 9,4% of the country’s population.Milan, Italy October 15th 2020. Regular visitors to the Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity resting inside the main living room of the building. The Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity was founded in 1921 as a day care centre for the homeless. It guarantees a meal during the day, the possibility of having a shower and access to common spaces inside their buildings where people can rest and socialize. Social workers also provide psychological support. The aim of the charity is to create a “family” environment that people can share.
During the Coronavirus pandemic the charity drastically reduced the number of visitors. From 400 people a day, daily footfall dropped to just around one hundred.Milan, Italy October 13th 2020. Regular visitors to the Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity sleeping inside one of the living rooms in the building.Milan, Italy October 14th 2020. A visitor to the Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity praying in the garden of the building.Milan, Italy October 13th 2020. Mal, one of the regular visitors of the Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity.Milan, Italy, July 24th 2021. Queue of people at “Pane Quotidiano Onlus”. Every day since 1898 the charity has provided, free of charge, a bag with staple food to all the people in need without any kind of restriction. Before Covid-19 the charity supplied around 1300-1400 bags each day; nowadays the number of people needing support has sharply increased: the charity provides around 3.000/3.500 bags each day.Milan, Italy, February 11th 2021. A worker at”Pane Quotidiano Onlus” inside the courtyard of the charity, full of trolleys filled of bags of staple food.Rome, Italy, July 9th 2020. A woman sitting alone inside the soup kitchen of the Caritas homeless shelter. Because of the spread of Coronavirus in Italy, in March 2020, the number of residents in the shelter was significantly reduced; in this way the Charity tried to avoid the spread of the virus.Milan, Italy October 15th 2020. Shadows of a visitor walking inside the living room of Opera Cardinal Ferrari charity.Milan, Italy, January 18th 2023. An old barrier at the entrance to the social housing in via Eugenio Quarti in the Baggio neighborhood on the outskirts of Milan.Livorno, Italy, September 17th 2018. Fhemi plays with his twins inside their apartment, inside the Cigna tower. Fehmi comes from Tunisia, his twins were born prematures and they need expensive medicine for treatment. After losing his job as fishermann, Fhemi was unable to pay the rent of his house. Without any economic resources he asked help to ASIA usb union that find a place inside the Cigna tower. Since February 26th of 2016 the occupated building called Cigna Tower in Livorno became the house of many families with no economical resources for pay a rent and for people that lost their jobs. Before the closure and followed abandoned and occupation, part of the building was the headquarter of the tax office in Livorno. With his 19 floors is visible arriving in Livorno from the Florence highway.Livorno, Italy, September 17th 2018. Fehmi’s wife, his twins and Nermine (the daughter of a friend, on the right side of the picture) in their apartment inside the Cigna Tower.Livorno, Italy August 30th 2018. Residents of the Cigna tower gathering at the entrance of the building, during the weekly meeting that usually take place every Thursday. During the meeting they talks about the rules and the maintenance works to do inside the occupied building.Catania, Italy January 7th 2019. An abandoned makeshift homeless shelter in the city centre of Catania.Catania, Italy, January 9th 2019. Hanging clothes in a makeshift homeless shelter in the city centre of Catania.Bologna, Italy March 15th 2023. Leone walking in the Dozza neighborhood, on the outskirts of Bologna.Bologna, Italy, Otober 19th 2022. Leone shaving Vincenzo in the friars house where Vincenzo lives. Leone comes from Messina, Sicily. When he was 30 he decided to move to the North of Italy looking for a better condition of life. He worked in Treviso as a carpenter in the building sector. In 2012 due to the economic crisis he lost his job and decided to move to Bologna. The first period in Bologna was really tough. He slept on the street and in the public gardens of the city. He worked for a short period of time for a social cooperative that helps people in poor conditions. Nowadays he lives in the cooperative’s garage and works some days a week as a caregiver, earning a minimum monthly wage.Bologna, Italy, May 29th 2019. Every Wednesday Benni (second from the left), Leone (third from left) and other associates go to the Radio Città Fujiko, on the outskirts of Bologna to present their radio program. During the radio program they talk about their passions, music and problems. This social program is carried out by Caritas and Radio Città Fujiko. With this kind of activity Caritas tries to avoid social exclusion and loneliness among people living in poor conditions.Bologna, Italy, October 16th 2019. Leone on a train going towards Bologna city centre. Leone comes from Messina, Sicily. When he was 30 he decided to move to the North of Italy looking for a better condition of life. He worked in Treviso as a carpenter in the building sector. In 2012 due to the economic crisis he lost his job and decided to move to Bologna. The first period in Bologna was really tough. He slept on the street and in the public gardens of the city. He worked for a short period of time for a social cooperative that helps people in poor conditions. Nowadays he lives in the cooperative’s garage and works some days a week as a caregiver, earning a minimum monthly wage.Milan, Italy, January 17th 2023. An abandoned house in the Primaticcio neighborhood, close to Via Cascina Corba in the southern part of Milan.Bologna, Italy October 19th 2022. A Teddy Bear inside the garage where Leone lives on the outskirts of Bologna. Vincenzo is lying on the couch. The garage is owned by a social cooperative that works with people in poor conditions guaranteeing them a minimum monthly wage.
