Down and out in southern Italy: after virus, poverty takes its toll

In Palermo’s historic district of Ballaro, novel coronavirus containment measures have had a dramatic effect on a once vibrant neighbourhood.

“When the lockdown started we saw immediately that the situation could get explosive, because many families suddenly found themselves with nothing to go on,” Alessia Rotolo tells dpa.

Rotolo is a volunteer for SOS Ballaro, a community group that is distributing food aid to around 1,500 needy people, thanks to a successful public fundraising campaign.

The heart of Ballaro is its famous food market, a tourist attraction dating back to the 10th century and a key source of income for the district’s multi-ethnic residents.

It’s now a shadow of its former self, with more than half of food stalls closed. Bars, restaurants and most shops in the area have also shut due to the lockdown.

Hundreds of people, often employed casually or off the books and therefore cut out from the state welfare system, have been left with no means of making a living.

“There are loads of people with no legal papers or who have no residence in Palermo, they are all excluded [from public aid schemes] and we try to reach out to them,” Rotolo said.

Italy’s lockdown, enforced since March 10, has helped contain a devastating epidemic in its wealthier northern regions, avoiding the geographic spread of a public health catastrophe.

But the economic costs of the restrictions have been felt nationwide, and are weighing heavily on the country’s historically underdeveloped south, known as the Mezzogiorno.

According to Svimez, a economic development think tank for the Mezzogiorno, some 1.4 million people across Italy’s south have lost their regular income and cannot claim state benefits.

The figure includes around 600,000 casual workers excluded from official unemployment or income support schemes, and more than 800,000 employed in the so-called black economy.

“We are talking about an area with already higher than average poverty rates, and now are many families who managed to scrape by could now slide into poverty,” Svimez Director Luca Bianchi told dpa.

“This could create social tensions,” he added.

In late March, a handful of people in Palermo tried to steal food from a supermarket, apparently egged on by pro-revolt messages on social media spread by people linked to the Sicilian Mafia.

In response to that, police started guarding food outlets, while the national government earmarked 400 million euros to fund food vouchers for hungry people.

Several crime experts have highlighted the risk that Mafia could exploit the crisis by presenting itself as the only entity able to help people through hard times.

Mobsters could distribute food aid to enhance their status among the population and take over struggling businesses through their usual offer-you-cannot-refuse methods, experts have suggested.

“One of my main concerns is that organized crime, the only entity with a lot of liquidity right now, could extend its influence over the legal economy,” Bianchi said.

Italian lockdown measures are being eased starting from May 4, but with no differentiation between the more infected north and the less affected south.

As of Wednesday, Italy had registered nearly 27,700 Covid-19 deaths and around 203,500 infections, one of the worst epidemiological records in the world.

But on a day in which there were more than 2,000 new infections nationwide, southern regions like Sardinia, Calabria, Basilicata and Molise each reported between five and zero cases.

In lockdown exit plans, factories are reopening first, but this brings little relief to the less industrialized Mezzogiorno. Earlier reopenings for the service and tourism sectors would help more.

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The south also needs expanded welfare measures to cover the current leftouts, something the government is considering. But above all, Bianchi urged quick action.

“The economy of the Mezzogiorno is like a scuba diver with less oxygen in his tanks, so it can resist underwater for a shorter time,” he said.

“The longer it takes for the state to act, the more the situation will be unmanageable, with more businesses folding, more families in distress, and the Mafia waiting in the wings,” he concluded. (dpa)