- Title: ITALY: MAFIA LEADER'S CONFISCATED HOME TO BECOME TOURIST HOTEL IN SICILY.
- Date: 26th July 2002
- Summary: (L!1) COUNTRYSIDE NEAR SAN GIUSEPPE JATO, SICILY, ITALY (JULY 22, 2002) (REUTERS) GV/TILT: GRAPE VINES ON A PROPERTY WITH HOTEL TO BE IN BACKGROUND GV: OWNER GIUSEPPE RANDAZZO AND YOUNG GIOVANNI, PART OF THE CO-OPERATIVE, WALKING UP DRIVEWAY TOWARDS HOUSE BEING RENOVATED GV/PAN: RANDAZZO'S WIFE WATERING FLOWERS WITH HOSE GV/MV: UNLOADING WOOD AND WATERING PLANTS (3 SHOTS) MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) GIOVANNI, YOUNG PERSON PART OF THE CO-OPERATIVE, SAYING: "I have made many sacrifices, like many other young people, to come to this point and to continue to further develop it. We are not doing this for money, but to keep alive an idea. This is an idea that we are trying to transmit to other young people in order to give them work, economic development and to somewhat change the mentality prevalent in Sicily which continues to torment us." (L!1) ROME, ITALY (JULY 24, 2002) (REUTERS) GV/MV: VARIOUS OF THE FAMOUS NAVONA SQUARE, WITH TOURISTS AND FOUNTAINS (2 SHOTS) MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANISH TOURIST, PETER, ASKED IF HE WOULD SLEEP IN THE MAFIA HOTEL, SAYING: "I think it's a good idea. Sounds good." GV: TOURISTS TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLISH TOURIST SAYING: "Horses heads? No horses-heads? INTERVIEWER SAYING: No, nothing like that. It's a property and it has vineyards. TOURIST: Sounds delicious - I would have no problem." (L!1) TOWN OF SAN GIUSEPPE JATO, SICILY, ITALY (JULY 22, 2002) (REUTERS) GV/MV: VARIOUS OF LOCALS IN THE TOWN, ELDERLY MEN (3 SHOTS) MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ELDERLY MAN, ASKED IF HE WOULD GO AND DINE AT THE MAFIA HOTEL, SAYING: "No, no, no. What do I know about Mafia matters? Food and hard work, that's all I know!" MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) WOMAN SAYING: "No, I am unaware of this, I know nothing of these things." GV/PAN: VARIOUS OF TOWN MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) MAN SAYING: "Huh? Who me? How would I go and eat there if I don't even know where it is? By the way, who are you and what do you want?" GV: VIEW OF TOWN STREET MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) YOUNG MAN SAYING: "If it has been confiscated for a positive end, it's a good thing for us all, for society (INTERVIEWER SAYING Would you go and eat there?) I don't know, maybe - only because it hasn't opened up yet and I don't know if I'd like it, not for any other reason." (L!1) COUNTRYSIDE NEAR SAN GIUSEPPE JATO, SICILY, ITALY (JULY 22, 2002) (REUTERS) GV/PAN/CU: VARIOUS OF YOUNG PEOPLE ON PROPERTY WORKING ON THE GRAPEVINES (3 SHOTS) GV/CU: VARIOUS OF BOTTLE OF THE WINE PRODUCED BY THE CO-OPERATIVE ON WINE LABEL WRITTEN FROM LAND IN SICILY CONFISCATED FROM THE MAFIA MV/CU/GV: YOUNG PEOPLE WORKING ON VINES AND THEN WALKING AWAY (3 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 10th August 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SAN GIUSEPPE JATO, SICILY AND ROME, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Crime,Quirky,Travel / Tourism
- Reuters ID: LVAOUG8B8MIBP1M9H4YFQN3PCNS
- Story Text: Top of Sicily's vacation hit list this season is a stay at a mafia leader's home which has been converted into a hotel. While tourists have no objection in staying on property confiscated from some of the island's most ruthless men, many locals continue their vow of silence and refuse to comment on the changing face of their land.
The Sicilian countryside has often made headlines, not for its beautiful landscapes, but for spectacular police raids involving the arrests of Mafia bosses.
In the last 20 years, in fact, most of Cosa Nostra's world-wide activities have been masterminded from remote country houses in the hilly farmlands around the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
And the Mafia was always something whispered about behind closed doors when Giuseppe Randazzo was a shop-owner in Palermo, so he never expected it to become his ticket to the country life.
But, next month, Randazzo and his wife will open the doors on the island's first anti-Mafia bed and breakfast and which will feature a quaint restaurant and vineyard on an estate confiscated from the Agrigento brothers, mob bosses who once ruled the region along with Giovanni The Pig Brusca.
Brusca, notorious for killing a rival by dunking him in a barrel of acid, was considered to be the top Cosa Nostra boss until he was arrested in 1996.
Both Brusca and the Agrigentos are serving life term sentences in prison.
The restaurant will be the first part of the property's development to be completed and opened to the public, and the Randazzos are aiming towards accommodating overnight guests in the not-so-distant future.
Thanks to a 1996 law, the state can confiscate assets from the Mafia and put them to use for the good of society, an idea also moved along with help by the Libera umbrella of anti-Mafia associations to assist in implementing that law.
Italy first adopted laws on the seizure of Mafia assets in 1982, allowing authorities to confiscate the mob's financial resources and property.
But it wasn't until the non-governmental group Libera began lobbying in 1995 that stricter legislation was enacted, allowing confiscated assets to be given back to society and put to use.
The Randazzos Tempio del Monte Jato co-operative is just one of hundreds of groups working with Libera to reap bounty from Mafia blight, and efforts are finally bearing fruit.
"I have made many sacrifices, like many other young people, to come to this point and to continue to further develop it. All of this has taken place without any revenue, but kept alive by an idea," says Giovanni, a young man part of this co-operative.
"This is an idea that we are trying to transmit to other young people, in order to give them work, economic development and to somewhat change the mentality prevalent in Sicily which continues to torment us," he said earnestly.
The idea of dining, and also sleeping, at a property belonging to some of Italy's most ruthless killers, appeals to some tourists.
"I think it's a good idea - sounds good," said one tourist in Rome's famous Navona Square.
Another tourist was curious to know if there was anything particularly gruesome to see in true Godfather style.
"Horses heads?," enquired one English tourist. "No horses-heads?"
But he thought it was a good idea when told there were vineyards and wine production: "Sounds delicious - I would have no problem."
It has not been easy for the Randazzos, who have had to scale a bureaucratic wall mysteriously thrown up by local officials as well as omerta, or the vow of silence that ensures locals keep their distance from anything Mafia-related.
Contrary to the enthusiastic tourists, elderly locals in the nearby town of San Giuseppe Jato -- in Sicily's Mafia heartland close to Corleone, the small town made famous in the film the Godfather-- refuse to be drawn into discussions concerning the Mafia, and don't appear to be interested in the Randazzos' new venture.
"No, no, no," said one man, shaking his head and then smiling. "What do I know about Mafia matters? Bread and hard work, that's all I know!"
Another local said she knew nothing of nearby land being confiscated from the Mafia.
"No, I am unaware of this, I know nothing of these things," she said through a doorway and then moved away.
While another elderly local was annoyed at being asked if he would ever consider dining on this property "Huh? Who me? How would I go and eat there if I don't even know where it is.
By the way, who are you and what do you want?"
Maybe a sign that things are changing in the Sicilian heartland, one young man thought it was not such a bad idea confiscating Mafia land.
"If it has been confiscated for a positive end, it's a good thing for us all, for society," he said. When asked if he would go and dine there, he said that he would consider it.
"I don't know, maybe - only because it hasn't opened up yet and I don't know if I'd like it, not for any other reason."
Like the co-operatives that are producing olive oil and pasta, the Randazzos are already marketing their first anti-Mafia product: a crisp white wine made from the vineyards that also once belonged to the Agrigento brothers.
The bottle label clearly explains that this wine is produced from grapes grown on Sicilian land confiscated from the Mafia. There is no shortage of helpers looking after the vineyards, with many Italian and foreign young people having come to Sicily on a special 15-day programme which aims to teach people about the fight against the Mafia on the island. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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