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  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - MARCH 31: Khalil, 24, a Tunisian mirant and captain of one of the many boats that reached Lampedusa, rests in a Renault 4 car in the harbor  on March 31, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. Khalil, received ?7,000 to pilot a boat and bring 42 Tunisian migrants from Zharzis, Tunisia, to Lampedusa, Italy, a tiny island island between Sicily and North Africa. Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_25.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: A woman wearing a Tunisian flag walks in the lobby of the conference center of The Hotel Africa after a conference held by opposition members of the National Constituent Assembly, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement, was plunged into a new political crisis on Thursday when assassins shot Mohamed Brahmi, 58, leader of the Arab nationalist People’s Party, an opposition party leader outside his home in a hail of gunfire.
    CIPG_20130727_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1861.jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Asylum seekers attend afternoon Italian classes for adults in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Images of an illustrated Italian alphabet are seen here in a room of a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Customers have drinks or spend time on their laptops in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, which works as a cafe when not in use during rehearsals or plays, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1145.jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A woman walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A couple of Nigerian asylum seekers and their daughter walk toward the school where they will attend afternoon Italian classes, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A child walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A child walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of home and the countryside of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Carmelina Lombardo, owner of a snack bar, is seen here entering her business in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The hill "San Marco" is seen here from in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of  the "Rabato" district in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: (L-R) Nunzio Vitellaro (33), coordinator of the E.U. poject for the NGO "I Girasoli", Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) and Pietro Alongi, council member for social policies and tourism, walk by an asylum seeker's home in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mariella Cirami (29), who works for the NGO "I Girasoli", plays with Blessing, daughter of Nigerian asylum seeker Margareth,  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, hugs her daughter as she arrives at their apartment from school, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A room in a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers is seen here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", is seen here at work in the NGO headquarters in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) is seen here at work in his office in the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors undress and relax after the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1779.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors undress and relax after the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1744.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: A hate and a tie used for the rehearsal of the  play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, are here in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1676.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Leading actor Sonia Zarg Ayouna (right), 42, rehearsals during the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1516.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: A waiter steps out of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, which works as a cafe when not in use during rehearsals or plays, after serving customer,  in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1191.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Customers have drinks or spend time on their laptops in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, which works as a cafe when not in use during rehearsals or plays, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1125.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Customers read newspapers and work on their laptops at the cafe L'Etoile du Nord in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1009.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Customers read newspapers and work on their laptops at the cafe L'Etoile du Nord in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1003.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors listen to the suggestions of theatre director Noureddine El Atirehearsal, after the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1791.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Owner of L'Etoile du Nord, actor and theatre director Noureddine El Ati, 67, advises the actors after the rehearsal of the play  "Blanche Aurore Celeste"  by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord,  in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1730.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors have a break during the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1544.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: A customers steps out of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, which works as a cafe when not in use during rehearsals or plays, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1130.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: A customer greets a friend at the cafe of L'Etoile du Nord, where customers are unabashed about breaking the rules during Ramadan, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement, was plunged into a new political crisis on Thursday when assassins shot Mohamed Brahmi, 58, leader of the Arab nationalist People’s Party, an opposition party leader outside his home in a hail of gunfire.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1042.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 2: Tunisian migrants are escorted by the Guardia di Finanza (Italy's financial police) and  transferred by bus to the ferry that will bring them to mainland Italy on the quay of the harbor on April 2, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. Three days after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi visited the island of Lampedusa and promised to remove all migrants within 60 hours, no migrants have been transferred because of the bad see conditions. Transfers are resumed after high winds blocked ferries from taking migrants away from Lampedusa, frustrating the migrants who have been protesting about a lack of food, water and shelter.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_23.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 2: Tunisian migrants watch a fire that broke out in an abandoned camper used by some migrants as a shelter, sending up a cloud of black smoke on April 2, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. High winds blocked ferries from taking migrants away Saturday from Lampedusa, frustrating the migrants who have been protesting about a lack of food, water and shelter.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_21.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 4: A young Tunisian migrant watches the dark sky at the harbor minutes after arriving by boat from Tunisia on April 4, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. 40 migrants who have just arrived with a boat from Tunisia wait to be transferred by bus to the temporary holding centre.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_15.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 2: A Tunisian migrant climbs on a Tunisian boat used by other migrants to reach Lampedusa and seized by the Italian Coast Guard on April 2, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_10.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 1: Ayoub Triki, 27, a Tunisian migrant from Mareth in the Gulf of Gabes, is here in his improvised tent in the so-called Hill of Shame on April 1, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. Ayoub left Tunisia from Zarzis on March 27 and paid 3,000 dinars (about ?1,500) to reach Lampedusa. He had already tried to reach Lampedusa from Djerba, Tunisia, but his boat returned after only 3 hours because of bad sea conditions.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_08.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 1: A Tunisian migrant watches the harbor from the so-called Hill of Shame, where hundreds of Tunisan migrants live in poor conditions on April 1, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_07.jpg
  • LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - APRIL 1: An improvised tent on the so-called Hill of Shame, where hundreds of migrants live in poor conditions on April 1, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy.??Thousands of people, many who left North Africa following recent unrest, are stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa in appalling conditions.  About 22,000 immigrants have arrived on the island since January, most of them from Tunisia. with many already having been moved to other parts of Italy...Many on Lampedusa have not been provided with the most basic humanitarian assistance such as shelter, medical care, mats, blankets and access to sanitary facilities, while thousands continue to sleep outdoors...(Photo by Gianni Cipriano / Getty Images)
    Lampedusa_06.jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Residents walk by the church in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The remains of a house in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Asylum seekers attend afternoon Italian classes for adults in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: An empty classroom is seen here in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Artwork about equality carried out by students is seen here in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A caretaker cleans a classroom in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: "The Garden of Hospitalty" (Giardino dell'Accoglienza), the result of a project of urban regeneration carried out by asylum seekers with the NGO "I Girasoli", is seen here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", is seen here in the playground of the school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Two residents of Sutera chat on a bench in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Two residents of Sutera chat on a bench in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Houses are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Line-drying clothes are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", talks with Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017, here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Line-drying clothes are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of  the "Rabato" district in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: (L-R) Nunzio Vitellaro (33), coordinator of the E.U. poject for the NGO "I Girasoli", Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) and Pietro Alongi, council member for social policies and tourism, walk by an asylum seeker's home in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch with her two children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A map of Italy is seen here in a room of a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) is seen here on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A resident of Sutera places a pot of flowers in front of her house entrance in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A house for sale is seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attending the 1st grade of elementary school is seen her as she walks in the school hallway in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A woman hangs clothes on her balcony in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • HAL FAR, MALTA - JUNE 21: Fatima Aden, 26, is an immigrant from Somala who lives in a container with 13 other single women at the Tent Village, an open centre in Hal Far (which translates as "Rat's Town") on June 21, 2011. Fatima Aden arrived in Malta on March 28th after fleeing the unrest in Libya. She left from the port of Az Zawiyah, 50 miles from tripoli. There were two boats, and 180 peple were on hers. It took them 33 hours to reach Malta. Fatima lived in Libya for one year and 9 months and worked as a chemist for 500 dinars, which were enough for her. She didn't want to leave but she was forced to. She wasn't threatened and didn't have to pay for the boats. The boats were given to the people by government officials. She's been in Malta now for 3 months and obtained subsidiary protection. She left Somali in 2006 when she was 21 and went first to Nairobi, Kenya, then South Africa. She has 2 sons living with her mother in Uganda. She's not married. Fatima lives in a container in the Hal Far Tent Village with 13 other single women: 2 Ethiopians, 2 Eritreans, 1 Nigerian, 9 Somalis. The majority of migrants living in the tent village is from Somalia. No lights, though they have electricity for a mini fridge. Fatima has a sister in Sweden. <br />
<br />
The Open Centres in Malta serve as a temporary accomodation facility, but they ended becoming permanent accomodation centres, except for those immigrants who receive subsidiary protection or refugee status and that are sent to countries such as the United States, Germany, Poland, and others. All immigrants who enter in Malta illegally are detained. Upon arrival to Malta, irregular migrants and asylum seekers are sent to one of three dedicated immigration detention facilities. Once apprehended by the authorities, immigrants remain in detention even after they apply for refugee status. detention lasts as long as it takes for asylum claims to be determined. This usually takes months; asylum seekers often wait five to 10 months for
    CIPG_20110621_NYT_MALTA__MG_0722.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Owner of L'Etoile du Nord, actor and theatre director Noureddine El Ati, 67,  poses for a portrait after the rehearsal of the play  "Blanche Aurore Celeste"  by Noelle Renaude, in the cafe space of L'Etoile du Nord,  in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1836.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors listen to the suggestions of theatre director Noureddine El Atirehearsal, after the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1789.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Actors undress and relax after the rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the dressing room of the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1665.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013:A rehearsal of the play "Blanche Aurore Celeste" by Noelle Renaude, in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord, in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1595.jpg
  • TUNIS, TUNISIA - 26 JULY 2013: Owner of L'Etoile du Nord, actor and theatre director Noureddine El Ati, 67,  directs the actors during the rehearsal of the play  "Blanche Aurore Celeste"  by Noelle Renaude, in the theatre space of L'Etoile du Nord,  in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 26th 2013.<br />
<br />
L’Etoile du Nord, besides being a cafe, is also an experimental theater that never closes, a free-wheeling space for spectators and performers, and a haunt for actors, intellectuals, free-thinkers and revolutionaries.<br />
<br />
Tunisian actor and theater director, Noureddine El Ati, who founded the theater company in 1997, says the venue is unique in all of North Africa.
    CIPG_20130726_NYT_Tunisia__MG_1550.jpg
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