SCAMPIA
Naples, Italy
Kaila Burns
Global History
FACTS ON ITALY
Italy has a population of 60,483,521.
Unemployment rate – 8.4%
Birth rate - 9.18 births/1,000 population
Death rate - 9.84 deaths/1,000 population
Exchange rate -$2.055 trillion
SCAMPIA, NAPLES
Population of Naples - 959,574
unemployment runs at 24%, compared to the 8.4% national average
Between ages 15-25 about 58% of these people are out of work
ABOUT SCAMPIA
Scampia is found is Naples, Italy. It is the biggest slum that Italy has, in Naples.
Scampia became a project in 2004-2005 when the drug war between the mafia started and they
took control of it all.
All of Scampia is public housing units.
There are no parks left, hospitals, or much of anything else there.
Most children do not even own a birth certificate, let alone get the chance of going to school.
Streets are filled with garbage because all of the garbage dumps are now completely filled, they
blame this on the mafia taking over.
SCAMPIA & CRIME
Scampia is mostly ran by a mafia.
Most building in the area have people or dogs
watching for intruders.
Police can barely keep it under control. They
had to bring in an extra 1000 police officers
just to help with drug trafficking, and it still
has barely improved.
In the projects of Scampia most children do
not have or live with their parents. Children
have a 25% chance of getting their
education, and most of the children in the
area resort to selling drugs, and thieving
rather than going to school.
The man who took this picture of these young girls in Scampia says “ I took this on one of the first days I was in
Scampìa. This girl lived in a state home. Both of her parents were in jail. That gesture with her hand means: ‘What
do you want?’ I was struck by her beauty. She was acting like a grown woman, staring me down, acting strong.”
A video on Scampia ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBIhvIcRW9A&feature=related
SCAMPIA, NOT FORGOTTEN
Although Scampia is the projects where it seems no
one would care about or be able to help. This
graffiti drawing of a bird on a building brought
some hope and light in.
Two Germans who painted this picture of the side
of a very broke down building in Scampia say
“Many of our Italian friends who saw photos of
our painting automatically thought that it was a
collage. To them it seemed impossible that three
Germans who didn’t even speak the Neapolitan
dialect had painted a bird four storeys high in one
of Italy’s most infamous areas.
But it was possible, and that in itself is a glimmer
of light for the inhabitants of Scampia.
Without the support of a large part of the vele
community, we would not have been able to
complete our bird. They were delighted that we
were applying colour to the very building which
most of them, given the choice, would move out
of immediately. The children in particular showed
great interest in our project.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.ilovegraffiti.de/rusl/2010/03/15/the-goldfinch-of-scampia/
http://en.comuni-italiani.it/063/049/
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Naple.pdf
http://ac-support.europe.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/vele.htm
Http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1534251/Police-powerless-against-Naples-mafia-drug-gangs.html
http://www.vice.com/read/live-die-naples-147-v15n8