Addiopizzo Becomes a Tour Operator Against the Mafia

The name reveals its philosophy: Addiopizzo Travel is the satellite organization run by young people involved with Addiopizzo, the anti-mafia group which launched the rebellion of Palermo’s shopkeepers against extortion and racketeering. Now, after the popular sticker which reads, “An entire population of people who pay protection money is a population without dignity,” has blanketed the city, the new initiative is destined to make resistance against the mafia and its clan of extortionists “economically convenient.”

 
Addiopizzo Travel will function as a tour operator and will offer travel packages that combine Sicily’s touristic resources with a legal and “clean” economy. The official presentation of the initiative will be held Thursday in Palermo.  


 

“Tourists,” say the young men and women of Addiopizzo Travel, “will have the opportunity to stay and enjoy meals at hotels and restaurants that do not pay protection money, they can use the services of firms on the ‘Pizzo-free’ list, and they will be able to visit companies that do business on land confiscated from the mafia.”  

Addiopizzo Travel is intended as an initiative that will be “easily recognizable to tourists as the symbol of asociety dedicated to lawfulness and one that seeks to redefine the outdated image of Sicily. The new image will move away from the typical clichés that involve the mafia in order to present a new Sicily that operates within the law.”  

 

Several travel packages designed by Addiopizzo Travel are specifically aimed at schools. Sicilian and Italian students, as well as foreigners, will be able to choose a new way to travel which focuses on legal education closely related to the culture, art, and natural resources of Palermo and its environs.


 

Translated by Giulia Prestia