You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed “O.p.g Criminal Asylum” is photographer and editor Mauro D’Agati’s immersion  in the psychiatric prisons of Napoli A few years later these judicial psychiatric hospitals closed an event that marks the history of the health care reform and custody system for people with mental illness in Italy starting with the Italian Mental Health Act of 1978 Back then I was working on a project about Italian prisons in general and I asked for access to visit these special sections During the course of one year I entered about 18 prisons in different regions of Italy and among them there were 4 psychiatric prisons I had a very strong drive to do this project My primary motivation was to explore something hidden to most people my personal sentimental situation at that time was not so good so it was a way to metaphorically cure myself As you can imagine it was far from easy to gain access to these places which are usually extremely sheltered institutions who at the time was Chief of Italian prisons and previously had been an important anti-mafia judge I met him in Palermo many times and he was a passionate supporter of my work.  These prisoners were people who committed various crimes and were judged dysfunctional and mentally ill Oftentimes while imprisoned they became problematic or dangerous to others and were sent to the 6 special sections named OPG – “ospedale psichiatrico giudiziario”.  I was able to photograph and was interested in visual representation of their condition but didn’t ask much about their stories what crimes they committed or which illness they suffered from It was already sort of a miracle that I was allowed to be there and take photos especially considering that at the beginning I received a letter of permission stating that I couldn’t take photos of their faces or any recognizable body parts When I arrived there and started working no one objected or asked anything so I had the freedom to point my camera anywhere I wanted.  Some asked me to help them get out of prison or to inform society about their bad life conditions there or were under medical drugs so that they did not understand what happened They just accepted me to stay with them with the camera and never turned aside or hid their faces Nothing happened to me but in front of my eyes I saw many peculiar stories Giving him coke was the only way to convince him to take a shower or to eat Looking back to my personal motivation to enter this world seeing what people experience there and what problems they have reminded me that a romantic heartbreak is not such a big deal.  It was published 20 years after the photographs were shot which brought a large reform of the psychiatric system in Italy containing directives to close all psychiatric hospitals and leading to their gradual replacement with a whole range of community-based services at the beginning it didn’t affect the criminal psychiatric hospitals What critics say now is that actually the same infrastructure remained in place After I shot this work I never had a chance O.P.G. CRIMINAL ASYLUM, Mauro D’Agati Read More: A Prison With Blue Walls Don’t miss the latest photographic news, subscribe to Blind’s newsletter. You’re getting blind.Don’t miss the best of visual arts Subscribe for $7 per month or $84 $70 per year This site uses technical (necessary) and analytics cookies Sito ufficiale Ambasciata d'Italia a Washington Emilio Isgrò (Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto 1937) he has created one of the most revolutionary and original operations in the international art scene of the second half of the 20th century Isgrò was invited to four editions of the Venice Biennale won first prize at the São Paulo Biennale in 1997 and has exhibited in prestigious international museums such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice Isgrò’s work was featured in many anthological exhibitions Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna in Rome Palazzo Reale and Gallerie d’Italia in Milan the artist created the monumental exhibition Isgrò Erases Brixia His works can be found in the collections of international institutions such as the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna and Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome and Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels including the Seed of the Most High in Milan The Abjuration of Galileo at the University of Padua a tribute to the links between Italian and anglophone culture The choice of erasing Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy specifically the third scene of the first act it evokes Isgrò’s profound relationship with the United States as the artistic practice of erasure arose as the answer of a young artist—who was already an established poet and journalist—to the pop art presented at the 1964 Venice Biennale who had met John Kennedy and formed a friendship with Peggy Guggenheim and Michael Sonnabend This is why he decided to merge writing with images and embraced visual art as a paradox inventing an artistic language that is as autonomous as it is original: erasure which borrows the communicative immediacy of pop art while maintaining a distance and avoids all consumerist ambiguities to focus on the written word with an approach that veers toward the conceptual The choice of Romeo and Juliet reveals the artist’s method While erasing a classic of world literature line after line Isgrò emphasizes its importance by “sparing” certain words which encourage the viewer to re-read the original text and discover new meanings it involves a few sentences said by Juliet’s nurse: taken out of their context urges us to reflect on the inevitability of fate Isgrò’s erasure sustains memory and opens to free interpretation opposing any form of censorship or “cancel culture”; through the very act of veiling It is a timeless visual and verbal language: sixty years ago it left an indelible mark on Italian art and now that our time seems to mirror the artist’s language Tel:+1 (202) 612-4400 E-mail: washington.ambasciata@esteri.it PEC: amb.washington@cert.esteri.it Contact our offices Farnesina – the MAECI Diplomatic network Viaggiare sicuri Dove siamo nel mondo  Italian Government  Europa.eu Faqs – MAECI About us Italy and USA Consular Services and Visas Contacts Transparent administration Transparent administration – MAECI We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. 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Heavy rainfall from 03 December 2022 has affected southern and central areas of Italy Flooding prompted emergency rescues in Sicily and Calabria regions roads were closed in parts of Tuscany and firefighters carried out dozens of interventions in the Lazio region Stormy weather also prompted authorities to evacuate an estimated 1,070 residents from risk areas on the island of Ischia where landslides in late November caused the death of 11 people Italy’s fire service Vigili del Fuoco reported heavy rainfall and flooding in Messina in northeast Sicily on 03 December 2022 Emergency crews carried out over 150 interventions for flooding in particular in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and Milazzo Vigili del Fuoco said they t rescued over 30 people from flooded homes and vehicles caught in flood waters Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto recorded 193.8 mm of rain in 24 hours on 03 November Heavy rain caused the Tacina River to overflow in Catanzaro the capital of the Calabria region on 04 December including rescuing one person from a flooded house in Simeri Crichi said the city will request a state of natural disaster to help aid recovery and clean-up operations Vigili del Fuoco carried out 40 interventions along the coast from Capo Rizzuto to Steccato di Cutro near Crotone after strong winds and a suspected tornado caused severe damage Very heavy rain fell in the Province of Cosenza As much as 305 mm of rain fell in 24 hours in Cropalati Roads were blocked and schools closed in the area as a result Firefighters said they carried out over 50 interventions responding to floods One building was evacuated in Acri due to damage caused by a landslide Damage to roads left areas cut off in Vaccarizzo Albanese Bad weather including heavy rain also affected the Rome Metropolitan area in the Lazio region Vigili del Fuoco carried out 150 interventions for draining basements removing unsafe trees and water damage in general Heavy rain also caused problems in the Tuscany Region where local media reported roads were closed after flooding in Manciano in Grosseto Province on 04 December damage from strong winds and a possible tornado was reported in the Apulia Region during this time — Vigili del Fuoco (@vigilidelfuoco) December 3, 2022 Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Get quality reporting directly into your inbox Massimiliano Arena and four others were charged in Sicily with being part of a transnational criminal group offering illegal financial services, a document seen by IrpiMedia confirms Italy’s La Stampa Libera reports that Guardia di Finanza in the northern Italian city of Messina had found two associates of Arena selling investments through a group of companies he ran that were not authorized to offer financial services in Italy Arena previously co-directed BBP Bandenia PLC the main holding firm of the Bandenia banking group that was broken up in Spain in 2017 as part of a money laundering probe OCCRP and partners uncovered recently how people linked to the group have thrived since that Spanish clampdown setting up at least 450 shell companies and widening their sphere of influence in a number of jurisdictions This has been achieved despite the fact that BBP Bandenia CEO Fabio Pastore is wanted by British authorities and former CEO José Miguel Artiles Ceballos has been sentenced to four years in prison in Spain for money laundering Fabrizio Pistorino, who was charged alongside Arena in the Italian investigation that concluded on April 5, is also linked to the Bandenia brand, having directed the U.K.-registered company Bandenia Ltd. with Artiles Ceballos while he had been a director of BBP Bandenia he held “no executive and/or managerial position” and “never had access to any of the company’s information or documentation.” Into the financial group that was targeted the prosecutor Veronica De Toni implicated a company named Wealth Bank IrpiMedia reported last week that Wealth Bank has boasted a banking license from the non-existent banking authority of Mwali The Messina case claims Arena, Pistorino and the others are behind a corporate structure with holdings in the U.K., the Czech Republic, Portugal and the Comoros La Stampa Libera reported that the group attracted customers with opportunities to invest abroad the foreign companies involved were operating “off the books,” the firms taking the investors’ sums were not complying with local laws in their own jurisdictions and the suspects were not permitted to promote such investments The probe had begun when a man from the northern town of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto noticed that the brother had been sending large sums of money abroad The investigation was carried out using phone intercepts and other techniques a judge requested the seizure of 750,000 euros (US$827,000) with Pistorino told to hand over 700,000 euros ($771,000) the money demanded could not be traced as the men are not in Italy the lawyer representing Arena in the proceeding told Italian media there was nothing illicit at play authorities in Spain announced in recent days that an investigation into alleged money laundering and due diligence failures by ING and CaixaBank in relation to Bandenia had been closed A judge said he did not find wrongdoing by the three banks which had been accused of failing to stop illicit funds from Bandenia clients passing through their books the judge said there were no further indications of wrongdoing in the case involving the Spanish banks but noted that the main case against Bandenia is ongoing That case accuses key companies in the Bandenia structure as well as Artiles Ceballos and a number of his associates a Spanish investigating judge called the Bandenia operation a perfect structure for money laundering that was “industrial” in scale Bandenia is accused of using tools like fake lines of credit to offer criminal clients pretexts to move money internationally Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits The Seme d’arancia su terra di Sicilia by Emilio Isgrò (Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto recently acquired to the collection of the Fondazione di Sicilia will be presented on April 9 at Palazzo Branciforte The appointment is part of the project Isgrò Dante Caravaggio and Sicily promoted by Fondazione Sicilia on the occasion of its 30th anniversary in collaboration with Archivio Emilio Isgrò and the participation of Fondazione per l’Arte e la Cultura Lauro Chiazzese.Prior to the presentation of the work that of the catalog Isgrò Dante Caravaggio and Sicily published by Skira Editore with all the materials reproductions of the works on display at Villa Zito and texts by the curators and leading scholars commenting on the different aspects of Isgrò’s art covered among Isgrò’s best-known sculptures was created in 1998 as a large public sculpture for his hometown of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto a great metaphor for Sicilian culture and its possibility of rebirth it harks back to the sunny and enveloping cultures of the Mediterranean which developed as much through speech as through exchange giving rise to values of civil coexistence and welcome The one in Barcelona is now referred to as “protoseed” because others Seme d’arancia su terra di Sicilia (Orange Seed on Sicilian soil ) which will be installed at Palazzo Branciforte seems almost to reconnect a thread that returns in this way to the artist’s native island origins that in any case have never been lost in Isgrò’s artistic development and that return more or less explicitly in many of his works The installation project curated by the Lapis Association places the work on a “land” typical of Sicily identifiable with the whole island and its territory glassy effect of its many facets make it an aesthetically appreciable material from its visible outcroppings on the natural terrain Its geological origin dates back a little less than six million years when evaporation of water from the ancient Mediterranean Sea produced the macrocrystals that the Romans later called lapis specularis the Orange Seed has repeatedly been featured in cultural news The Barcelona sculpture made of resin tuff and volcanic sands of monumental dimensions returned to the news in 2014 when the work tested by years of exposure to the elements was restored to give rise to a broader initiative designed to actively involve citizens and schools in a collective participatory form In 2015 to welcome visitors to Expo in Milan stands the Seme dell’Altissimo: an imposing orange seed enlarged one billion five hundred million times seven meters high and made of white marble from Mount Altissimo quarried directly from the quarries of the Apuan Alps The sculpture was later donated to the city of Milan and today we find it permanently placed in the garden in front of the Triennale building Isgrò’s seeds were also planted in 2017 in Catania as if spitting directly from the volcano in the installation The Dream of Empedocles An enlarged lemon seed can be seen at the Fondazione Vittoriale degli Italiani "Isgrò conceives aeuròpera,“ the catalog says ”a true offering to citizenship that from Sicilian becomes Italian and What element can gather in itself the Mediterranean a universal emblem of birth or rebirth in power recognized as the cradle of European civilization stands a monument to the life and fruitfulness of man and nature." Sicily is in the throes of a violent storm that has turned roads into rivers the southern part of Italy was once again the target of heavy rain which thankfully did not claim any victims Last night was a busy one for members of the Italian Civil Protection who carried out several rescue operations particularly the areas of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto many Sicilians ended up trapped in their cars or in their own homes firefighters carried out 150 rescue operations in less than 24 hours The water caused major damage to the infrastructure Walls were damaged and part of the tarmac of a bridge in Terme Vigliatore a number of tornadoes also hit the south of Italy which uprooted trees and cut the power supply in some areas The storm isapproaching the upper part of the country A light magnitude 1.4 earthquake hit 27 km (17 mi) away from Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Sicily,  Italy The quake had a very shallow depth of 4.1 km (2.5 mi) and was too small to be felt by people Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto has a high level of seismic activity Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900 there are about 2,400 quakes on average per year in or near Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto has had at least 5 quakes above magnitude 7 since 1900 which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently probably on average approximately every 23 to 27 years The last earthquake in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto occurred 23 hours ago and had a magnitude of 1.9: Mag. 1.9 earthquake Tyrrhenian Sea - Sicily, Italy - writeAge(1746411351)A light magnitude 1.9 earthquake occurred in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Isola Vulcano island The quake had a moderate depth of 118 km (73 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so) Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto has had 1 quake of magnitude 2.1 There were also 16 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel The strongest earthquake in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto in the past 7 days had a magnitude of 2.1 and occurred 3 days ago: Mag. 2.1 earthquake Tirreno Meridionale (MARE) - writeAge(1746205204)A light magnitude 2.1 earthquake occurred in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Isola Vulcano island The quake had a moderate depth of 129 km (80 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).