The 1990s inside Bari’s biggest slum – the San Nicola district of Bari Vecchia – were particularly difficult times for the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It was an era of desperation, coming off the back of a political scandal known as Tangentopoli. This led to the release of information which implicated hundreds of politicians and exposed a tidal wave of corruption.
Then, as now, very little initiatives were taken to improve the Apulia region. All too often in the port city, the youth have been left to look after themselves and have been afforded few positive role models in a place where Sacra Corona Unita – Apulia’s organized crime unit – dominate the susceptible and vulnerable.
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