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  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_573...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_570...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_568...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_567...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_565...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_558...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, edits his latest book in his studio in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, edits his latest book in his studio in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Books run on a reel before being binded, here at the Rubbettino Publishin House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbetting Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_69...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, poses for a portrait in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_67...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Leonardo Sirianni (64), mayor of Soveria Mannelli, poses for a portrait by a mural in the townhall council room in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A view of Soveria Mannelli, a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Peppino Leo (95), father of entreprepeneur and heir Emilio Salvatore Leo, poses for a portrait in the historic family business Lanificio Leo in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading sc
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A woman makes a scarf here in the textile workshop of the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by a Jacquard loom (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepre
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: An old warping mill is seen here at the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Wool is seen here running through a textile calender machine which polishes the surface of the fabric and makes it smoother and more glossy, in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-siz
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A wood silo is seen here by the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: Parts of chairs are seen here in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker assembles a school chair at Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: Colored seats are seen here in the showroom of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_573...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_572...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_570...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_569...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_566...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_565...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_564...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_563...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_561...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_561...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_559...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_558...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, edits his latest book in his studio in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker does a color check of a poster printed at Rubbettino Publish House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker does a color check of a poster printed at Rubbettino Publish House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Yellow, magenta, cyan and black printing rolls are seen here in the Rubbettino Publishing House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker does a color check of a poster printed at Rubbettino Publish House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Florindo Rubbettino (45), CEO of Rubbettino Publishing House, poses for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Florindo Rubbettino (45), CEO of Rubbettino Publishing House, poses for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Florindo Rubbettino (45), CEO of Rubbettino Publishing House, poses for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Florindo Rubbettino (45), CEO of Rubbettino Publishing House, poses for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A view of Soveria Mannelli, a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, poses for a portrait in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, poses for a portrait in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, poses for a portrait in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_67...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Leonardo Sirianni (64), mayor of Soveria Mannelli, poses for a portrait by a mural in the townhall council room in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Wool is seen here running through a textile calender machine which polishes the surface of the fabric and makes it smoother and more glossy, in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-siz
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Peppino Leo (95), father of entreprepeneur and heir Emilio Salvatore Leo, poses for a portrait in the historic family business Lanificio Leo in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading sc
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Woolen clothing items are dried on the rooftop of the Lanificio Leo woolen mill here in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Woolen clothing items are dried on the rooftop of the Lanificio Leo woolen mill here in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A woman is a work here in the textile workshop of the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by a Jacquard loom (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepre
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by a Jacquard loom (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepre
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: An old extile calender machine (which polishes the surface of the fabric and makes it smoother and more glossy) is seen here in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill  in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing h
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A detailf of warps running through a Jacquard loom, a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles, is seen here at the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, works on an antique horizontal loom in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a lea
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Spools of wool are placed here on an old warping mill at the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A Jacquard loom (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) is seen here at the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture m
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A textile calender machine, which is used to polish the surface of the wool and makes it smoother and more glossy, is seen here in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, is seen here during an interview in his office in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing h
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_62...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Lanificio Leo, the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, a Southern Italian region, is seen here in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_62...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: The mother-church is seen here in Soveria Mannelli, a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_62...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker assembles a chair in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A workers welds the steel structure of a chair here in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A map of Italy is seen here in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: Beechwood is cut here by workers in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_573...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_572...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_569...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Enrico Interdonato, a 32-year old volunteer psychologist and founding member of the anti-racket association Addio Pizzo in Messina, the Sicilian town across the strait from Reggio Calabria, poses for a portrait in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
In 2013, after a decade-long work with street boys, Mr. Interdonato started tutoring a 15-year old boy who came from an ‘Ndrangheta family. They spent time together in the disco and with other young men and women in the city, and later also with associations and mafia victims’ families, elaborating together the real impact of reckless criminal actions.<br />
<br />
We are a bit like David against Golia,” he said referring to the two judges on juvenile cases in the city with the highest criminal concentration in Italy.<br />
“But the ’Ndrangheta infiltrates our community and we try to infiltrate them culturally, making their children free to choose,” he said.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_568...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_564...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_563...jpg
  • REGGIO CALABRIA, ITALY - 15 NOVEMBER 2016: Roberto Di Bella, the President of the Court for Minors of Reggio Calabria who started a program limiting or suspending parental responsability for incriminated families of the ‘Ndrangheta (the organized crime centered in the Souther Italian region of Calabria), poses for a portrait in his office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on November 15th 2016.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, judges from Reggio Calabria court for minors have started a program limiting or suspending parental responsibility for incriminated families, moving children to a different Italian region and trying to create the conditions for an ordinary childhood there. Once they turn 18, they can choose whether to go back to Calabria or not.<br />
<br />
When evidence shows that children are physically or psychologically endangered by their families’ Mafioso behavior, judges apply the same legislation used in Italy against abusive parents to parents from the ‘Ndrangheta.<br />
<br />
So far, the program has involved more than 40 minors, boys and girls aged 12 to 16, and out of those who have already returned to their lives, none has committed a crime.<br />
<br />
Calabria has a very high criminal concentration. Since the early 1990s, Reggio Calabria juvenile court sentenced about 100 minors for mafia association and 50 for murder—or attempted murder.<br />
<br />
After years of work with Mr. Di Bella and other prosecutors, the Justice Ministry is now ready to standardize the procedure. Once local authorities sign the protocol, it'll become effective.<br />
<br />
“Sons follow their fathers,” he said. “But the state can’t allow that children are educated to be criminals.”<br />
<br />
In his project, Mr. Di Bella hoped to see the “future of the fight against mafias,” he said.<br />
<br />
But he admitted that the project is now based on his judges’ work and on volunteers who lend their professional skills almost for free.<br />
<br />
“We need specialists,” he said referring psychologists, host families and specialized judges. “We need norms, fund
    CIPG_20161115_NYT-Ndrangheta_5M3_562...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A worker does a color check of a poster printed at Rubbettino Publish House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_71...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: (L-R) Florindo Rubbettino (45) and his brother Marco Rubbettino, respectively CEO and executive director of Rubbettino Publishing House, pose for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Florindo Rubbettino (45), CEO of Rubbettino Publishing House, poses for a portrait in the typgraphic warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_70...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Pallets of printed sheets of paper and typographic machine are seen here at the Rubbettino Publishing House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_69...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A man arranges sheets of paper here at the Rubbettino Publishing House in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Rubbettino Publishing House, founded by Rosario Rubbettino in 1973, is of the largest publishing and printing houses in Italy’s South. To abate logistical costs and make sure of the production quality, Rubbettino Publishing House built an integrated cycle inside its large warehouse inside Soveria Mannelli. Over 80 employees edit, print and package 300 new books a year for the Italian market, generating a turnover of 8 million euros.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_69...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Elderly men sit on a bench by the main square in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: "The Falling House", an installation by artist Fabrizio Plessi, is seen here in the main square Piazza Bonini in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Mario Caliguri, 56, mayor of Soveria Mannelli for five mandates and now a University professor, poses for a portrait in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_68...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Leonardo Sirianni (64), mayor of Soveria Mannelli, poses for a portrait by a mural in the townhall council room in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_67...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Wool is seen here running through a textile calender machine which polishes the surface of the fabric and makes it smoother and more glossy, in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-siz
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_66...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by a Jacquard loom (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepre
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_65...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A Jacquard mill (a power loom that simplifies  the process of making textiles) is seen here in the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture m
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: A detail of warps running through an old warping mill is seen here at the Lanificio Leo woolen mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancien
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_64...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 17 NOVEMBER 2016: Emilio Salvatore Leo (41), entrepreneur and heir of the woolen mill and historic family business Lanificio Leo, poses for a portrait by an old warping mill in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 17th 2016.<br />
<br />
Lanificio Leo was the first and last machine-operated woolen mill of Calabria, founded in 1873, it employed 50 people until the 1970s, when national policies to develop Italy’s South cut out small businesses and encouraged larger productions or employment in the public administration.<br />
<br />
The woolen mill was on stand-by for about two decades, until Emilio Salvatore Leo, 41, started inviting international designers and artists to summer residencies in Soveria Mannelli. With their inspiration, he tried to envision a future for his mill and his town that was not of a museum of the past,<br />
Over the years, Mr. Leo transformed his family’s industrial converter of Calabrian wool into a brand that makes design products for home and wear. His century old machines now weave wool from Australia or New Zealand, cashmere from Nepal and cotton from Egypt or South America. He calls it a “start-up on scrap metals,” referring to the dozens of different looms that his family acquired over the years.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing hous
    CIPG_20161117_SoveriaMannelli_5M3_63...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: Beechwood is cut here by a worker in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: A photograpg of Camillo Sirianni (who passed away in 2007), is seen here in the warehouse of Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: (L-R) Siblings Francesco, Angelo and Claudio Sirianni, who run the family business Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer, pose for a portrait in the company's warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: (L-R) Siblings Francesco, Angelo and Claudio Sirianni, who run the family business Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer, pose for a portrait in the company's warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
  • SOVERIA MANNELLI, ITALY - 16 NOVEMBER 2016: (L-R) Siblings Francesco, Angelo and Claudio Sirianni, who run the family business Camillo Sirianni, a school furniture manifacturer, pose for a portrait in the company's warehouse in Soveria Mannelli, Italy, on November 16th 2016.<br />
<br />
Camillo Sirianni is a third generation family business that started as a family mechanized carpentry in 1909 and transformed into a leading school furniture manufacturer. In a high-tech warehouse in the outskirts of Soveria Mannelli, they assemble thousands of Calabrian beechwooden, colorful desks, benches, closets and other accessories that are later shipped to many corners of the globe, from the United Kingdom to the Emirates, from central America to Polynesia.<br />
<br />
Soveria Mannelli is a mountain-top village in the southern region of Calabria that counts 3,070 inhabitants. The town was a strategic outpost until the 1970s, when the main artery road from Naples area to Italy’s south-western tip, Reggio Calabria went through the town. But once the government started building a motorway miles away, it was cut out from the fastest communications and from the most ambitious plans to develop Italy’s South. Instead of despairing, residents benefited of the geographical disadvantage to keep away the mafia infiltrations, and started creating solid businesses thanks to its administrative stability, its forward-thinking mayors and a vibrant entrepreneurship numbering a national, medium-sized publishing house, a leading school furniture manufacturer and an ancient woolen mill.
    CIPG_20161116_NYT-SoveriaMannelli_5M...jpg
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