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  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach13.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, listens to Corps Member Advisor Paul Root, 26, during the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach09.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach06.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach05.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach04.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach14.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, listens to Corps Member Advisor Paul Root, 26, during the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach12.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. The binder of Katherine Atwill, 21, who attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach11.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, listens to Corps Member Advisor Paul Root, 26, during the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach10.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill (center), 21, listens to Corps Member Advisor Paul Root (left), 26, during the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. Next to her, on the right, is Michele Meredith, 21. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach08.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach07.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach03.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach02.jpg
  • 1 July, 2008. Bronx, NY. Katherine Atwill, 21, attends the first week of the Teach for America Summer Institute at Middle School 118. The Summer Institute is a five week preparation where corps members, such as Katherine, develop the foundational knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to be beginning teachers. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Katherine graduated in May from Colombia University with a double major in East Asian Studies and Creative Writing. She decided to enroll in the Institute because she believes the Teach for America teachers produce great results with kids.<br />
©2008 Gianni Cipriano for the Wall Street Journal<br />
cell. +1 646 465 2168 (USA)<br />
cell. +1 328 567 7923 (Italy)<br />
gianni@giannicipriano.com<br />
www.giannicipriano.com
    Teach01.jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: A student walks in the hallway of the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, poses for a potrait at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high s
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, poses for a potrait at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high s
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, is seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers.<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school stu
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Third grade students are seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Saturno, 1 13 years old third grade student, is seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. Francesco Saturno spent his mornings helping in his grandfather’s fruit shop, sleeping in or glued to his Playstation. He only twice logged on to his online class. His mother, Angela Esposito, 33, who herself dropped out of high school, worried that he might leave school and follow in the footsteps of his father, who earns tips of loose change for babysitting parked cars in Naples. “I am scared that if he doesn’t go to school he is going to get lost,” she said. “And getting lost in Naples is dangerous.”<br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: A third grade student is seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: School chairs are piled up here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and worry that months of closed classrooms would shut students out for
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: School chairs are piled up here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and worry that months of closed classrooms would shut students out for
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: School desks are piled up here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice the European average and in the city’s outskirts it is even higher. Teachers there have struggled to keep students interested in school, and worry that months of closed classrooms would shut students out for
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, poses for a potrait at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high s
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Dora Leva (36), mother of third grade student Emanuela, is seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021.  “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” Francesco Uccello, an Italian teacher at the school, said. “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.” <br />
Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, is seen here teaching an online class to his third grade students at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to sc
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Third grade students are seen here glued at their smartphones during a class at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, t
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Third grade students are seen here at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. Over the past months, the school has organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to school.” Between September and January, high school students in Naples only physically went to school for 27 days, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, a national low. In Naples, the dropout rate is about 20 percent, twice
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, is seen here teaching an online class to his third grade students at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to sc
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • NAPLES, ITALY - 14 APRIL 2021: Francesco Uccello (48), an Italian teacher, is seen here teaching an online class to his third grade students at the "Melissa Bassi" middle school in Ponticelli, a district in the outskirts of  Naples, Italy, on April 14th 2021. “Here parents have a hard time considering school as something important in life,” he said, “The kids don’t have anyone telling them to wake up for class.”  Over the past months, the school has also organised workshop to get the local kids, who were most likely to not attend the online classes, come to school and build solid personal relationships with the teachers. <br />
<br />
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Italy had among the highest dropout rates in the European Union. But over the last year it has kept its schools at least in part closed about three times longer than France, and more than Spain or Germany and just about all other member states, severing a lifeline for some of the most challenged children and fueling fears of an education crisis.<br />
<br />
Experts argued that by at least partially closing its schools for 35 weeks, Italy, already lagging behind the rest of Europe in key educational indicators and hoping for a strong post-pandemic recovery, had threatened its long term prospects. The country with Europe’s oldest population has risked leaving behind its youth, which is its greatest and rarest resource.<br />
<br />
While it is too early for reliable statistics, teachers, principals, advocates and social workers say they have seen a sharp increase in the number of students falling out of the system. Even those who stayed in are clearly falling behind.<br />
<br />
The problem is especially acute around the southern city of Naples. Schools here have remained closed longer than the rest of the country, in part because the president of the wider Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca, insisted they were a potential source of infection. At one point, he mocked the notion that children in his region were “crying to go to sc
    CIPG_20210414_NYT_Italy-Dropouts_A73...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attending the 1st grade of elementary school is seen her as she walks in the school hallway in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Asylum seekers attend afternoon Italian classes for adults in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A woman walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A couple of Nigerian asylum seekers and their daughter walk toward the school where they will attend afternoon Italian classes, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A child walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A child walks by the school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Artwork about equality carried out by students is seen here in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A caretaker cleans a classroom in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, hugs her daughter as she arrives at their apartment from school, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends the 3rd grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Somali asylum seekers attends the 1st grade of elementary school in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Asylum seekers attend afternoon Italian classes for adults in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: An empty classroom is seen here in the elementary school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", is seen here in the playground of the school of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The hill "San Marco" is seen here from in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Images of an illustrated Italian alphabet are seen here in a room of a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The remains of a house in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of home and the countryside of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Carmelina Lombardo, owner of a snack bar, is seen here entering her business in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Two residents of Sutera chat on a bench in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Two residents of Sutera chat on a bench in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Houses are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Line-drying clothes are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", talks with Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017, here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of  the "Rabato" district in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of  the "Rabato" district in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: (L-R) Nunzio Vitellaro (33), coordinator of the E.U. poject for the NGO "I Girasoli", Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) and Pietro Alongi, council member for social policies and tourism, walk by an asylum seeker's home in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mariella Cirami (29), who works for the NGO "I Girasoli", plays with Blessing, daughter of Nigerian asylum seeker Margareth,  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A map of Italy is seen here in a room of a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A room in a private home used to teach Italian to adult asylum seekers is seen here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Nunzio Vitellaro (33), the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli", is seen here at work in the NGO headquarters in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) is seen here at work in his office in the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the town of Sutera, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Residents walk by the church in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Abandoned houses are seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A view of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: "The Garden of Hospitalty" (Giardino dell'Accoglienza), the result of a project of urban regeneration carried out by asylum seekers with the NGO "I Girasoli", is seen here in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Hussain Munassar, (34), a Pakistani asylum seeker who arrived in Italy in 2015 together with his wife and that were transferred to Sutera in October 2017,  poses for a portrait in his home  in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Line-drying clothes are seen here in "Rabato", a district of the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: (L-R) Nunzio Vitellaro (33), coordinator of the E.U. poject for the NGO "I Girasoli", Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) and Pietro Alongi, council member for social policies and tourism, walk by an asylum seeker's home in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch with her two children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Margareth (30), a Nigerian asylum seeker who arrived in Sutera in 2015, cooks lunch for her children in her apartment, in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) poses for a portrait on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: Mayor of Sutera Giuseppe Grizzanti (63) is seen here on the balcony of the town hall of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A resident of Sutera places a pot of flowers in front of her house entrance in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: A house for sale is seen here in the historical center of Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
  • SUTERA, ITALY - 8 JANUARY 2018: The daughter of  Nigerian asylum seekers attends is seen here in a kindergarten class in Sutera, Italy, on January 8th 2018.<br />
<br />
Sutera is an ancient town plastered onto the side of an enormous monolithic rock, topped with a convent, in the middle of the western half of Sicily, about 90 minutes by car south of the Sicilian capital Palermo<br />
Its population fell from 5,000 in 1970 to 1,500 today. In the past 3 years its population has surged  after the local mayor agreed to take in some of the thousands of migrants that have made the dangerous journey from Africa to the Sicily.<br />
<br />
“Sutera was disappearing,” says mayor Giuseppe Grizzanti. “Italians, bound for Germany or England, packed up and left their homes empty. The deaths of inhabitants greatly outnumbered births. Now, thanks to the refugees, we have a chance to revive the city.”<br />
 Through an Italian state-funded project called SPRAR (Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), which in turn is co-funded by the European Union's Fund for the Integration of non-EU Immigrants, Sutera was given financial and resettlement assistance that was co-ordinated by a local non-profit organization called Girasoli (Sunflowers). Girasoli organizes everything from housing and medical care to Italian lessons and psychological counselling for the new settlers.<br />
The school appears to have been the biggest beneficiary of the refugees’ arrival, which was kept open thanks to the migrants.<br />
Nunzio Vittarello, the coordinator of the E.U. project working for the NGO “I Girasoli" says that there are 50 families in Sutera at the moment.
    CIPG_20180108_LIBERATION-Sutera__M3_...jpg
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