Word: rosarno
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When hundreds of African immigrants rioted in the southern Italian city of Rosarno last weekend, the world got a glimpse of a very different Italy from the one pictured in tourist brochures. But while overturned cars, shattered shop windows and street battles may be a far cry from the tranquil villages in the Tuscan hillsides, the real contradiction uncovered by the violence has less to do with how Italy is perceived by outsiders than with how Italians view the country themselves...
...violence erupted in Rosarno on Jan. 7 after two African immigrants were shot by white men with pellet guns. The town's immigrants responded by burning cars and vandalizing shops, prompting retaliatory attacks by residents. By the end of the weekend, at least 70 people - most of them migrant workers - had been injured. In the aftermath, the Pope called for tolerance and the government evacuated about 1,000 immigrants to neighboring cities to ensure their safety. The migrants also received uncharacteristically sympathetic media coverage. "This Time ... The Negroes Are Right," read the headline on Jan. 9 in the conservative newspaper...
...region of Calabria, where Rosarno is located, makes up the toe of Italy's boot. Seasonal migrants - mostly from Africa and Eastern Europe - have long been employed to work in the citrus orchards there. The hours are long, and the wages average less than $30 a day. When Fabrizio Gatti, a journalist for the Italian newsweekly L'Espresso, posed as a migrant worker in 2006, he uncovered a world where beatings were common and exploitation was rife. "You have no contract - no rights," Gatti says. "So if they don't pay you, you cannot go to the police...