Dancing wildly in the Mafia's old forecourt

There we were, joining young people in a wild dance in the forecourt of the old Mafia villa near Naples. It was weird to know that right there in that same place some people might have had less happy experiences, like getting kneecapped, or worse.

The villa was one of several that in recent years had been confiscated from the Camorra, as the Mafia type is known that operates in Italy’s Campania region, with Naples as its headquarters.

Dancing where the Mafia once presided.

The building subsequently got assigned for use as a help facility for youngsters who had fallen on bad times. In addition to housing, they are given training in the arts, cooking, mechanics and such. They also get taught the region’s old dances and mountain music and songs as a way of nurturing their sense of belonging to society.

The girls were wearing brightly coloured longish dresses, and the boys neat outfits of a similar olden style. The smiles with which they served the delicacies they had prepared and the exuberance with which they pulled their guests into their dancing circle attested to the success of the program.

It was bright thinking on the part of the authorities to hand the house over for use by young people in need. The Camorra has over the four centuries since it came about integrated itself deeply into local society, exerting its influence in ways ranging from the subtle to the outright brutal. It would not want to turn public sentiment unnecessarily against it through acts of retribution aimed at young people in need of assistance.

I visited the villa with a group of environmental journalists from different parts of the world who got shown by our Italian hosts how the crime family had added refuse disposal in the region of Campania to their wicked activities, with disastrous consequences for the environment and the people.

Waste disposal has been a growing problem for Naples since the 1980. That is when the hoods stepped in. To save residents and businesses both the costs and the trouble, they would at cheaper prices collect their waste, including dangerous chemicals and heavy metals, and simply dump and burn it near roads in an area dubbed the Triangle of Death.

Before my journey, and preoccupied with the thuggery and thievery going on in my own country, I was only vaguely aware of the goings-on in Naples. It was positively heartrending to learn about the impact the Mafia’s behaviour was having on that exquisite landscape, how the toxic fallout was fouling up the agricultural ground and the air, and how this was endangering people.

Vesuvius as seen from the city of Naples.

Some leading Mafia members have been arrested in recent times. As demonstrated in its own telling way by that now happy villa we visited, the law enforcement authorities do indeed seem to be making headway in their fight against the family. One can only wish them strength to their hand.

The experience brought home to me in a rather touching way how different battles are being fought in different places all over the globe to stop the assault on nature and on the wellbeing if the human race.