The story begins with a sticker…

• On the night between 28 and 29 June, for the first time on the streets of the center of Palermo, hundreds of small stickers appeared with the words: “A WHOLE PEOPLE WHO PAY TE PIZZO IS A PEOPLE WITHOUT DIGNITY”. The anonymous action was brought by a small group of young people from Palermo. That was the spark that gave birth to Addiopizzo.

Addiopizzo goes to school

• Since its origins, one of the main activities of Addiopizzo has been the promotion of anti-Mafia culture in schools, with the help of magistrates and shopkeepers engaged in the fight against racketeering.
  Projects in schools turn out to be an essential action, to have a widespread impact on the cultural change. Since then hundreds of young people from Palermo and its province have been involved.

“Io sono Libero”

• For the 14th anniversary of Libero Grassi’s murder, Addiopizzo organize a day of celebration in honor of the Palermo businessman killed in 1991 for his choice not to bow to the pizzo. Since then, August 29th becomes a very important city event to commemorate and to urge a collective rebellion against the mafia.

‘I pay who does not pay’: launch of the critical consumption campaign

• In a crowded press conference, the first original network of “pizzo-free” shops and busonesses is presented: about one hundred entrepreneurs from Palermo and its province who publicly declare not to pay the protection money and are ready to report the extortionists, in case of pizzo demands.

The pizzo-free fair/festival

• In May, in the heart of the historic center of Palermo, Addiopizzo organizes the first edition of the anti-pizzo critical consumption fair: an entire day of debates, performances, activities with students and music to support the Addiopizzo shops. More than 10 thousand people attended. The event was repeated annually in subsequent years.

Addiopizzo Catania

• In the wake of what happened in Palermo, a group of young people of Catania, the second-largest city in Sicily, autonomously replicated the Palermo experience, giving life to the creation of a second anti-racket critical consumption network in the East part of Sicily. Go to the site

Libero Futuro

• Libero Futuro was born from a group of shopowners who already joined the campaign of Addiopizzo. It was the first anti-racket association in Palermo.

Civil actions

• For the first time, Addiopizzo brings a civil action in a criminal proceedings, alongside an entrepreneur who has reported the protection racket.

Palermo vista racket

• Presentation of the book and DVD ‘Palermo vista racket’, a statistical survey on the phenomenon of the extortion racket in Palermo conducted by the students who participated in the 2007 Addiopizzo school project.

Addiopizzo Travel

• Birth of ‘Addiopizzo Travel’, tour operator which organizes ‘mafia-free’ educational trips and experiences of responsible tourism in Sicily: the accommodations, restaurants and other suppliers involved in the tour packages all adhere to the Addiopizzo critical consumption campaign.

The label ‘PizzoFree product’

• Thirty-two food and manufacturing companies adhering to the Addiopizzo Critical Consumption list start to put a PIZZOFREE label on their products, expanding the audience of potential supporters of the Mafia-free economy.

The Addiopizzo headquarter in a confiscated apartment

• The current headquarter of Addiopizzo, in via Lincoln 131, is opened to the public. It is host in an apartment confiscated from the mafia boss Masino Spadaro and named after Mario Bignone, head of the ‘catching fugitives squad’ of the Police of Palermo, a friend of Addiopizzo who died prematurely.

Addiopizzo Messina

• The model of Addiopizzo arrives in Messina, the third largest city in Sicily. It is an additional front of spontaneous resistance to the mafia that uses the critical consumption strategy.

Professionisti Liberi

• An assotiation composed of Professionals is born in Palermo: the goal is the empowerment of individual professionals in the fight against the mafia alongside entrepreneurs.

“Santa Rosalia, liberate us from pizzo!”

• Addiopizzo is invited to actively participate in the “Festino di Santa Rosalia”, the spectacular procession dedicated to the patron saint of the city. During the procession, the Addiopizzo volunteers physically push the chariot of the “Santuzza” of Palermo.

“Crooked” Anti-corruption campaign

• Addiopizzo, Libero Futuro, Professionisti Liberi and Libera join their forces for a anti-campaign campaign. During the press conferences, some proposals are submitted to the attention of the candidates for mayor of Palermo.

Addiopizzo “Social Entrepreneur of the year”

• Addiopizzo wins the “Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013” award, organized by the Schwab Foundation. Addiopizzo is awarded “for its innovative approach and potential global impact”.

“Sconzajuoco” beach

• Between June and September, Addiopizzo manages a beach club in Capaci: a sustainable, inclusive, accessible space, oriented to critical consumption. A year later, the experience will be repeated on the Isola delle Femmine seafront.

Innovation Award ADI Design Index 2013.

• Addiopizzo is awarded at the premises of the Milan Triennale “for the value of social service and changing behavior”.

Addiopizzo Card

• Launch of Addiopizzo Card, a ‘loyalty card’ valid in the Critical Consumption businesses circuit. By showing it to affiliated shops, the consumer activates an ‘ethical discount’: a percentage of his spending is destined to a shared fund, aimed at a Collective Investment for the city of Palermo. As a matter of facts, Addiopizzo inaugurates a new strategy for the promotion of Common Goods as a tool to contrast the mafia culture and the mafia dominion.

Closure of fundraising for collective investment

• 20,000 euros was collected through donations and the ‘ethical discount collected’ offered by the Addiopizzo shops and entreprises to the users of the Addiopizzo Card. As designated by the citizens themselves, the collective investment will be made in Piazza Magione, a poor area of the historic centre of Palermo. It will consists in the cration of a new playground for children.

Agreement for the urban renovation of Piazza Magione

• The Municipality of Palermo and Addiopizzo sign the agreement for the start of the redevelopment works planned in Piazza Magione. The play area will be made thanks to donations and the ethical discount collected through the network of critical consumption, using the Addiopizzo Card.

‘Solidarity finds a home’

• Addiopizzo launches a support action with a call to the anti-racket critical consumption entreprises, in order to renovate some apartments confiscated from the mafia, assigned to destitute families who cannot afford their refurbishment.
  

Migrants and collective complaint

• After being victims of threats, extortion and robbery for months, a group of shopowners of foreign origin, mainly Bengali, reports their persecutors with the help of Addiopizzo and the police. The criminals are all arrested.
  During the trial, the victims testify and Addiopizzo stay next to them as a civil party. The group of criminals will be convicted in 2019 for various crimes, aggravated by the mafia method and racial discrimination.

   

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Collective Investment

• After a participatory planning process, the playground in Piazza Magione was created and inaugurated. It is the result of the crowdfunding campaign carried out with the ethical discount of the Addiopizzo Card, which finally raised about 25 thousand euros.
  This urban renovation intervention push Addiopizzo in putting more efforts in social inclusion activities with children and families in the Kalsa district.

   

Addiopizzo Store

• A new social enterprise is born to support the Addiopizzo campaign. An e-commerce shop promotes and distributes the Addiopizzo manifacture businesses under a single brand, to include foreigners in supporting the mafia-free network.

From Palermo to Latina

• In the night between 28 and 29 June, fourteen years after its original communication action, Addiopizzo peppers some streets of the city of Latina (near Rome) with hundreds of stickers reading “All together against the pizzo in Latina”. The goal is to spead awareness and social rebellion in the area of Rome, where mafia-type criminal organizations are very active and increasingly aggressive.

Piazza Magione as a Common Good

• The efforts for social inclusion and urban redevelopment in Piazza Magione continues with the inauguration of the street and new games in front of the school. This is the first playground marking intervention in Palermo.

Addiopizzo and the pandemic

• During the first Covid lockdown and in the following months, Addiopizzo collects donations and organizes ‘responsible grocery shopping’ actions to support around 80 families in financial difficulty in the Kalsa district.

Vaccination hub at Addiopizzo’s

• In order to facilitate access to anti-Covid vaccines, expecially for those living in marginalization, the Addiopizzo headquarter hosts health personnel who administer about 100 doses to the residents of the neighborhood.

Enhanced assistance services for the victims of pizzo and usury

• With the “Liberazione in corso” project, funded by the Ministry of the Interior as part of the National Operational Program “Legality” 2014-2020, Addiopizzo activates a support desk made up of experts who, with the coordination of Addiopizzo, provide legal assistance, business consulting and psychological advice for the victims of Mafia extortionsts and loan-sharks.

The Resilience Fund Project

• Thanks to the Resilience Fund, disbursed every year by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Addiopizzo equips itself with new digital communication tools. The Fund identifies and empowers key civil-society actors, and builds their operational capacity with the aim of creating resilience networks in communities impacted by organized crime and violence.