Abstract
This essay will use the theoretical lens of the production of space, provided by David Harvey, to analyse the Sack of Palermo, or the massive destruction of the Conca d’Oro, the fertile land surrounding Palermo, and its substitution with high rise buildings which occurred between 1950 and the 1980s, resulting in the destruction of a vast area of social space which had existed for centuries. Harvey argues that capitalism consists of a constant re-modeling of places in order to facilitate its practices of domination and profit. Organised crime has been the vehicle in this case: Indeed, the Mafia has produced a new urban space, not only by destroying the former agricultural and suburban context of Palermo, but also by their demolition of some important monuments in the cities, such as the liberty villas of early XX century. This process took place in two stages. The first one was the displacement, that is the eviction of the population of the city- relocatd into lower class districts where unemployment and social disruption provided a fertile ground to the Mafioso hegemony. The second stage was anonymization: The emptying of the city, the engulfing of the old borgate (hamlets) with blocks of flats, destroyed the social capital of family, professional and cultural network which was crucial for the city’s local identity. The new Palermo suffered from the lack of a collective sense of belonging which impeded the development of a sense of civility and citizenship; and thus made way for fragmented, particular interests, making it easier to reinforce the domination of the mafia.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AA.VV, (1986) Mafia. L’atto di accusa dei giudici al Maxiprocesso, Editori Riuniti, Roma
Arlacchi P (1983) La mafia imprenditrice. Rizzoli, Milano
Banfield EC (1958) The moral basis of a backward society. Free Press, New York City
Block A (1983) East side, West Side, Organizing crime in New York City. Transaction, Newark
Bonomi A (1998) Il capitlaismo molecolare. Einaudi, Torino
Cancila O (1989) Palermo. Laterza, Bari
Cancila O (1995) Storia dell’industria in Sicilia. Laterza, Bari
Cannarozzo T (2000) Palermo: le trasformazioni di mezzo secolo in Archivio di Studi Urbani e Regionali 6/7 49–98
Catanzaro R (1987) Il delitto come impresa. Storia sociale della mafia. Liviana, Padova
Chubb J (1983) A tale of two cities. Politics and patronage in southern Italy. Cambridge University Press, New York
Di Lello G (1996) La storia di Salvatore Giuliano in Annali della storia d’Italia, vol. XII, 567–589
Dino A (2002) Etnografia del mondo di Cosa Nostra. Palermo, La Zisa
Franchetti L (1876) Inchiesta sulla Sicilia. Vallecchi, Firenze
Gaja F (1993) L’esercito della lupara. Maquis, Milan
Ginsborg P (1992) Storia d’Italia 1943–1991. Einaudi, Turin
Gramsci A (1973) Quaderni dal carcere. Editori Riuniti, Rome
Hannerz U (1980) Exploring the city. Inquiries towards an urban anthropology. Columbia University Press, New York City
Harvey D (1989) The urban experience. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Hobsbawm E (1963) Primitive Rebels. Penguin, London
Inzerillo SM (1989) La grande Palermo. Utopie urbanistiche tra le due guerre. Ila Palma, Palermo
La Duca R (1965) Bagli, ville e cisterne della Piana dei Colli. Flaccovio, Palermo
La Spina A (2005) Mafia, legalità debole e sviluppo del Mezzogiorno. Il Mulino, Bologna
Lefebvre H (1978) The production of space. Verso, London
Lupo S (2011) Il tenebroso sodalizio. XL, Rome
Marino GC (1973) Storia del separatismo siciliano. Editori Riuniti, Rome
Masini V (1988) Palermo. Quartieri e servizi. Ila Palma, Palermo
Mineo M (1953) Scritti sulla Sicilia. Flaccovio, Palermo
Pantaleone M (1970) Antimafia occasione mancata. Einaudi, Torino
Putnam RD (1993) Making democracy work. Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Ruggiero V (1996) Economie Sporche. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin
Santino U (2000) Storia del movimento antimafia. Dalla lotta di classe all’impegno civile. Editori Riuniti, Rome
Santino U (2003) Il nome e la cosa. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli
Santino U (2017) Mafia and antimafia. IBS Tauris, London
Santino U, La Fiura G (1989) La violenza programmata. Franco Angeli, Milano
Scalia V (2017) Mobs, anticommunists, sucanchiuostru. Local and global actors in the sack of Palermo. In: Chiodelli F, Hall T, Hudson R (2017) The illicit and illegal in regional and urban governance and development: corrupt places. Routledge, London
Schwartz H, Jakobs J (1979) Qualitative sociology. Simon & Schuster, New York City
Sciarrone R (2011) Mafie vecchie, mafie nuove. Donzelli, Roma
www.cameradeideputati.it
www.istat.it
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Vincenzo Scalia declares that he has no conflicts of interest.
Human and animal participants
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the author.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Scalia, V. The production of the Mafioso space. A spatial analysis of the sack of Palermo. Trends Organ Crim 24, 189–208 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-020-09395-7
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-020-09395-7