| Anti-mafia itinerary of Palermo (Palermo) | |
 | |
| Itinerary type | Automotive |
|---|---|
| State | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Territory | Palermo coast |
| City | Palermo |
| Start | Cinisi |
| end | South Palermo |
| Tourism site | |
Anti-mafia itinerary of Palermo is an itinerary that develops through the places of the victims of the mafia a Palermo and surroundings.
Introduction
| “The mafia is by no means invincible; it is a human fact, and like all human facts it has a beginning and will also have an end. Rather, we must realize that it is a terribly serious and very serious phenomenon and that it can be won not by demanding heroism from defenseless citizens, but by engaging all the best forces of the institutions in this battle. " |
| (Giovanni Falcone) |
Background
The history of the mafia is long-standing and presents a long season of illicit activities and abuses that reach up to the end of the 1970s when the excellent murders and the first reactions from the Italian state and institutions begin.
In 1979 the Corleonesi had taken power in Palermo and established a reactionary line with respect to the past. The reporter was killed Mario French (January 26), the commissioner Boris Giuliano (July 21) and the judge Cesare Terranova (September 25). The following year the president of the Region Piersanti Mattarella (January 6).
In 1982 the Honorable Pio La Torre proposed a bill which for the first time provided for the crime of "mafia association" and the confiscation of mafia assets. For this reason, on April 30, 1982, La Torre was slain. So the general was asked Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa to install himself as prefect of Palermo with special powers, but the general was isolated and on 3 September killed. The murder of General Dalla Chiesa caused a stir. On September 13, 1982, the "Rognoni-La Torre" law was finally approved, which had been blocked for too long. All this led the mafia to unleash retaliation against the magistrates who applied this new rule: on 29 July 1983 a car bomb parked under the house killed Rocco Chinnici, head of the Education Office of the Court of Palermo.
After the murder of Chinnici, the judge Antonino Caponnetto, who replaced him, decided to set up an "anti-mafia pool", that is a group of investigating judges who would deal exclusively with mafia-type crimes, of which he called the magistrates to be part Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Lello and Leonardo Guarnotta. It was the turning point that accelerated the process of attacking the mafia thanks also to the statements of Tommaso Buscetta is Salvatore Contorno. In 1986 the Maxi trial opened which ended with 342 sentences, including 19 life sentences that were imposed among others on Nitto Santapaola, Bernardo Provenzano is Salvatore Riina. On January 30, 1992 the Supreme Court confirmed all the convictions of the Maxiprocesso, including the numerous life sentences in Riina and the other bosses, endorsing the declarations of Buscetta and Contorno.
On May 23, the massacre of Capaci, in which Falcone, his wife and some escort agents lost their lives; on 19 July the massacre of via d'Amelio, in which Judge Borsellino and the escort agents were killed: following this umpteenth massacre, the government reacted by starting the "Operation Sicilian Vespers", with which 7,000 army men were sent to Sicily to garrison the objectives sensitive and over one hundred particularly dangerous mafia inmates were transferred en bloc to the prisons of theAsinara and of Pianosa to isolate them from the outside world.
On January 15, 1993 Riina was arrested by the men of the ROS of the Carabinieri. On January 27, 1994 the brothers Filippo and Giuseppe Graviano were arrested, who had dealt with the organization of the attacks and for this reason the bomb strategy stopped. In 1996 the investigations of the newly created Anti-Mafia Investigation Department led to the arrest of numerous fugitives (Leoluca Bagarella, Pietro Aglieri, Giovanni Brusca and dozens of other mafia members). On 11 April 2006, after 43 years in hiding, Provenzano was captured in a farmhouse in Montagna dei Cavalli, a hamlet 2 km from Lionheart.
When to go
The itinerary can be done in any season of the year.
Who is it for?
This itinerary is aimed at all those who wish to understand the sacrifice of those who paid for the rebellion against the mafia with their lives, tourists, students or simply curious can retrace their tracks.
How to get
By plane
- 1 Palermo-Punta Raisi Airport (Falcone and Borsellino Airport) - The airport operates national and international flights, and various connections low cost. Numerous periodic tourist flights in summer e charter.
- Connections
- Palermo airport is connected to the city center by the metropolitan train service Trinacria Express or shuttle buses operated by Prestia and Comandè. Trains run every thirty minutes.
- The bus, with a bi-hourly frequency, takes about 50 minutes from Palermo Centrale station and 40 from Piazza Politeama.
- 2 Trapani-Birgi Airport (Vincenzo Florio Airport) - National and European flights operate from and to Trapani Birgi, both scheduled and low cost. Seasonal tourist flights in the summer. Shuttle bus service operated by Terravision and Salemi for Trapani and Palermo.
By car
From Messina via the toll motorway 
, from Catania through the 
. From Mazara del Vallo is Trapani with the highway 
.
- 3 Port of Palermo (Bus 107 from the Central Station to the Crispi-Scinà stop). Main connections of the port of Palermo: Cagliari, Civitavecchia, Genoa, Naples, Salerno is Tunis.
On the train
- 4 Palermo Central Station, Piazza Giulio Cesare. There are long-distance trains to and from Milan Central, Rome Terms, Turin Porta Nuova and other major Italian cities.
- As for regional connections, there are direct trains to the cities of Messina, Catania, Agrigento is Trapani.
By bus
- 5 Extra-urban bus terminal, Course of the Thousand (Next to the central station). The Cuffaro bus lines connects Palermo with Agrigento, Canicattì, Favara, Racalmuto, Castrofilippo is Caves.
- There F.lli Camilleri company connects with Agrigento, or with Aragon, Cool them down is St. Elizabeth.
- There Prestia and Comandé company connect with Cianciana passing by Santo Stefano Quisquina, Bivona is Alessandria della Rocca. Or with Santa Cristina Gela passing by Villagrazia, Altofonte, Rebuttone is Plain of the Albanians.
Stages
Anti-mafia itinerary of Palermo: full screen map.
- 6 Place of the assassination of Peppino Impastato, Contrada Feudo, Cinisi (From Palermo airport, take the motorway towards Cinisi, then exit at the junction along via Aldo Moro and turn left onto via Giovanni Falcone, then turn right. From here walk in the countryside to reach the railway). Here Peppino Impastato was beaten and killed in a cottage near the railway, then his body was placed on the train tracks and blown up with TNT, simulating suicide. His death resulted from the fact of being born in the bosom of a Mafia father with whom he immediately enters into conflict and dedicates himself to journalism Radio Aut, a free radio where he denounced politicians and mafia members with satire and mockery, giving names and surnames, calling into question the boss Gaetano Badalamenti. He will run for municipal elections but will be assassinated during the election campaign. The epitaph engraved on Peppino's tomb in Cinisi reads as follows: "Revolutionary and Communist militant - Murdered by the Christian Democratic mafia".
- 7 Obelisks from the Capaci massacre (Stele by Giovanni Falcone), highway
(near Capable). These obelisks recall the Capaci massacre which took place on 23 May 1992, Falcone after arriving at Palermo airport coming from Rome was hit by an explosion procured by 1000 kg of TNT at the height of Capable, the explosion also killed his wife Francesca Morvillo and escort agents. To operate the remote control from the nearby hills was Giovanni Brusca.
- He was a magistrate and one of the most important and prestigious personalities in the fight against the mafia. He worked closely with his brotherly friend Paolo Borsellino, he was able to understand the mechanisms of the mafia thanks to the revelations of the repentant Tommaso Buscetta. His work allowed the establishment of the Palermo maxi-trial. Became Director of Criminal Affairs at the Ministry of Grace and Justice a Rome it laid the foundations for the birth of laws on collaborators of justice. His action became so incisive that he became an uncomfortable subject, so in 1989 he suffered a failed attack on the seaside villa of Addaura which increased his fame and at the same time attracted more criticism called the "season of poisons". His remains rest in the church of San Domenico.
- 8 Former home of Mauro De Mauro, viale delle Magnolie, 58 (From the highway which then becomes viale della Regione Siciliana, from here exit to reverse the direction of travel to take via del Quarnaro, then right on via Aquileia then left on viale delle Magnolie). The commemorative plaque commemorates the disappearance of De Mauro, an investigative journalist of the daily Time who knew how to do his job well. He was interested in the Borghese coup and the death of the president of ENI Enrico Mattei beating the trail of the attack and for this he was also contacted by the director Francesco Rosi who wanted to make a film on the subject. He was kidnapped on the evening of September 16, 1970, while returning to his home. Two men got into the car forcing him to leave. Since that moment, all traces have been lost and his body has never been found.
- 9 Place of the assassination of Mario Francese, viale Campania (from Viale delle Magnolie, turn right onto Via delle Alpi, then left onto Via Principe di Paternò, then turn left onto Viale Piemonte continuing to Viale Campania). In the center of the traffic island there is a plaque in the place where Mario Francese was assassinated. He was a skilled journalist of the Giornale di Sicilia, he dealt with the Ciaculli massacre, the trial of the Corleonesi in 1969 and was the only journalist to interview Totò Riina's wife, Antonietta Bagarella. In his inquiries he entered deeply into the analysis of the mafia organization, its divisions, families and leaders, especially the Corleonese linked to Luciano Liggio and Totò Riina. He was gunned down by Leoluca Bagarella, in front of his house. On the spot will arrive the Head of the Flying Squad Boris Giuliano who will be killed just six months later.
- 10 Ninni Cassarà's house, viale red cross, 81 (From Viale Campania, turn right onto Viale Emilia, then left onto Viale Croce Rossa). Ninni Cassarà lived here, killed on 6 August 1985 together with agent Roberto Antiochia by nine men armed with Kalashnikovs posted on the windows of the building in front of his door. He was the deputy commissioner of Palermo. Thanks to him, new working methods were introduced such as that of infiltrated policemen, but also to work a lot in schools talking to students. He was also a close collaborator of Giovanni Falcone and through his investigations it was then possible to establish the maxi-trial against the mafia. After the murder (or at the same time as it) his agenda disappears at the police station, where it is assumed that important information was recorded.
- 11 Home of Paolo Borsellino's mother (Tree of Peace in memory of the Via D'Amelio massacre), via D'Amelio (From viale croce Rossa take the first exit at the roundabout onto via Cassarà, then turn right onto Viale del fante then go straight on onto piazza Leoni and then turn left onto via Cirrincione, then right onto via D'Amelio). In this street lived Paolo Borsellino's mother, whom he often visited. On 19 July 1992 (a few days after Falcone's death) a Fiat 126 stuffed with TNT, which was parked, detonated killing the five escort officers. Today there remains a tree in remembrance.
- Together with Giovanni Falcone, colleague and friend until his death, Paolo Borsellino is considered one of the most important and prestigious personalities in the fight against the mafia in Italy and internationally. Together with Falcone he will write the order that indictes 476 suspects of the maxi-trial.
- 12 Site of the assassination of Cesare Terranova, via Edmondo De Amicis (From via D'Amelio resume via Cirrincione, then turn left onto via Ferri, then right until you cross via De Amicis). In this place you will not find any plaque because the condominiums of the opposite buildings have refused the installation of a plaque in memory. On September 25, 1979, in fact, driving the car that would take him to work together with Marshal Lenin Mancuso, taking a secondary road closed by a barrier, he was surprised by killers who killed both of them.
- Cesare Terranova was a magistrate and a communist politician, he was a close collaborator of Pio La Torre. In 1974, as an investigating judge, he succeeded in having the boss Luciano Liggio sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 13 Tombstone of Boris Giuliano, Via di Blasi Francesco Paolo, 17 (From via De Amicis turn left onto via Cordova, then left again onto viale della Libertà then right onto via di Blasi Francesco Paolo). Where there is a plaque once was the Lux bar where on 21 July 1979 Leoluca Bagarella killed Boris Giuliano while having a coffee with seven gunshots in the back. Giuliano was the head of the flying squad of Palermo. He directed the investigations with innovative methods, starting a tough fight against the Cosa Nostra. He also investigated the disappearance of the journalist Mauro De Mauro.
- 14 Location of the Libero Grassi crime, via Vittorio Alfieri, 24 (from Via di Blasi Francesco Paolo turn left onto via Vittorio Alfieri). In this place on August 29, 1991, the businessman Libero Grassi was killed with four gunshots while walking to work. He is the symbol of the revolt against the mafia's protection money. In January 1991 the Journal of Sicily he had published a letter from his refusal to give in to the blackmail of the mafia:
| “I wanted to warn our unknown extortionist to spare the threatening phone calls and the expense of buying fuses, bombs and bullets, as we are not willing to make contributions and have placed ourselves under police protection. " |
- He will have the extortionists arrested and for this reaction he will pay with his life.
- 15 House of Piersanti Mattarella, via Libertà, 137 (from Via Alfieri turn left onto Via D'Annunzio, then right onto Via della Libertà). Here lived Piersanti Mattarella who was killed on January 6, 1980, immediately after entering a car with his wife, two children and his mother-in-law to go to mass, a hitman approached the window and shot him down. Among the first to arrive there was his brother Sergio, the current President of the Republic who tried to help him. A symbolic photo taken by Letizia Battaglia remains of that day.
- He was a Christian Democrat politician close to Aldo Moro and became President of the Sicily Region carrying out a political action together with the Communist Party of reforms and commitment to legality. Shortly after the murder of Peppino Impastato, Mattarella went to Cinisi for the municipal electoral campaign by delivering a harsh speech against Cosa Nostra that amazed the supporters of Impastato themselves.
- 16 Rocco Chinnici's home, via Pipitone Federico, 59 (from Via della Libertà, turn right onto Via Gioacchino di Marzo, then right again onto via Leopardi, then continue turning right onto via Giusti, then right again onto via Pirandello, finally right again onto Via Giuseppe Pipitone Federico). The plaque commemorates the place where Rocco Chinnici was killed on 29 July 1983 by a car bomb stuffed with 75 kg of explosives and parked in front of his home. To activate the detonator that caused the explosion was the hitman of the mafia Antonino Madonia. Its name is linked to the idea of the establishment of the "anti-mafia pool" of which young magistrates including Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino became part. He was also interested in the death of Peppino Impastato. From him the idea of talking to the students of the Mafia schools was born.
- 17 Place of the assassination of Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa, via Isidoro Carini, 34 (from via Pipitone Federico, turn right onto via Leopardi, then right onto via giusti and right again onto via della Libertà. Turn left on via Duca della Vegetable, then right on
. Turn right on via Archimede, then left on via Ugo Bassi right on via Ricasoli, then immediately right on via Isidoro Carini). The plaque commemorates the point where on 3 September 1982, one hundred days after his inauguration, General Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa was assassinated in the A112 on which he was traveling with his wife Emanuela Setti Carraro. The car was joined by a BMW, from which some deadly Kalashnikov bursts departed. The escort car with the agent Domenico Russo was flanked by a motorcycle from which another deadly burst started which later killed him too. A sign appeared at the site of the massacre:
| «Here the hope of honest Palermitans died. " |
General of the Carabinieri protagonist of the fight against the Red Brigades. In 1982, immediately after the death of Pio La Torre, he was appointed prefect of Palermo with the task of opposing the Cosa Nostra. But strangely, the special powers required to deal with the mafia never arrive and he felt he had been isolated. 
- 18 Tombstone of Pietro Scaglione, via Cipressi (from via Isidoro Carini continue turning then into via delle Croci which becomes piazza Crispi from which you turn left onto via Libertà. Then take via Catania to the right and then left via Cusmano from which you enter via Malaspina where you immediately turn right onto via Dante. Continue until you turn left onto via Serradifalco where you continue until the fork to the right of via Silvio Pellico, finally turn right onto via Cipressi). At this point Pietro Scaglione was killed in an ambush on May 5, 1971 together with the guardian. Caught in a car from which two or three people got out and fired 9 and 38 Special pistols. He was one of the first magistrates to deal with the mafia, taking an interest in the murder of Gaspare Pisciotta and the disappearance of Mauro De Mauro. Tommaso Buscetta told judge Giovanni Falcone that Scaglione was "an upright magistrate and ruthless persecutor of the mafia" and his murder had been organized and executed by Luciano Leggio and his deputy Salvatore Riina with the approval of their associate Pippo Calò.
- 19 Place of the assassination of Pio La Torre, via Vincenzo Li Muli (take via Cipressi and then take via Pindemonte, then left via Cappuccini to piazza Indipendenza from where you turn onto corso Pietro Pisani. Finally, turn right onto via Vincenzo Li Muli). The plaque commemorates the place where Pio La Torre was killed by a barrage of shots on April 30, 1982 together with Rosario Di Salvo by killers who blocked the car with a large engine. Communist politician and trade unionist, in 1976 he prepared the report of the Anti-Mafia Commission accusing Giovanni Gioia, Vito Ciancimino and Salvo Lima of having relations with the mafia. In 1980 he drafted the Rognoni-La Torre law which introduced the crime of mafia association and the confiscation of assets into the penal code. This law was introduced only after his death and that of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, in 1982. He was also a peaceful active organizing the march against the missiles of the base of Comiso.
- 20 Pino Puglisi house museum, Piazzale Anita Garibaldi, 5 (From via Vincenzo Li Muli turn right onto via Cuba and corso Calatafimi, upon reaching piazza Indipendenza take corso Re Ruggero, then turn left onto corso Tukory. Then turn right onto via Arcoleo and immediately left onto via Pisacane, then left onto via Marinuzzi until you turn left onto via Bergamo which then becomes via dei Decollati. Follow it all the way until you cross corso dei Mille and then turn left onto viale Amedeo d'Aosta, then onto via Canzio and right onto piazzale Anita Garibaldi). The museum remembers the figure of Father Pino Puglisi killed on September 15, 1993, the day of his 56th birthday, he was killed in front of the door of his house by Gaspare Spatuzza is Salvatore Grigoli. After his arrest, the latter seemed to embark on a path of repentance and conversion. He himself said that before being killed Don Pino smiled and then said: "I expected it". He was the first martyr of the Church killed by the mafia due to his constant evangelical commitment in the most marginalized neighborhoods of the city. Appointed parish priest of the Brancaccio district, he became interested in the recovery of adolescents, snatching them from criminal activities. After inaugurating the Our Father center in the neighborhood and receiving threats and intimidation, he was eventually killed.
- Father Puglisi was beatified in 2013, the following year the house-museum was opened in his home.
Safety
The itinerary is quite safe even if it is damaged by the intense vehicular traffic. Pay some attention in the Brancaccio district and in other peripheral areas due to the presence of petty crime with the risk of theft and burglary.
Around
- Arab-Norman itinerary - itinerary among the monuments of the Arab-Norman period that make Palermo, Monreale is Cefalùworld heritage sites.
- Bagheria
