FLORENCE. Among broken glass, bottles, cigarettes, pizza boxes and worn jackets, a makeshift camp appears created with two armchairs, some broken chairs and bed slats.
A blanket as a roof, a sheet of plywood as a table, a mattress as a bed and the floor as a bathroom. Upon hearing our footsteps, a boy of just 23 years old comes out from a pile of clothes. He has been living there for four months, speaks little Italian and struggles to answer the questions asked of him but tries to tell us his story while he picks up an already smoked cigarette from the ground and lights what remains of the butt. A few meters away there is the engine of the boiler that heats the entire building but, for him who lives next to the electricity meter room of the same building, the nights are cold. Two floors away live families, couples, children and elderly people who, for a long time now, have been fighting against degradation and asking for greater safety. In via Galliano, in the Novoli district, many different realities coexist in a condominium and the situation seems to have reached a point of no return. «I have lived here for over twenty years, I pay the rent regularly, but in my opinion there are those who don’t. – explains an inhabitant of the building – Furthermore, it is not acceptable to return home in the evening, after working, and find yourself faced with dirt, human excrement, broken bottles, glass shattered by people who live in the rooms where the electricity meters are located. Not to mention the danger. If, unfortunately, a cigarette ends up on the boiler engine everything explodes. But beyond that, they are not humane living conditions.”
Some residents also suspect the presence of illegal tenants, many of whom may also be sublets. Fear reigns among those who have been paying rent regularly for over twenty years. «There are several elderly people, people over eighty or ninety years old, who are afraid to take the elevator and go down even just to go to the supermarket in front – says a resident – Here, every evening but sometimes even during the day, it is a land of drug dealing and continuous bivouacs. They stop not even two meters away from the house gate.” Those who deal are found near the garden in via Galliano, inaugurated last March with new lighting and games for children, or in front of the entrance to the same building in a sort of external entrance hall. In addition to activities related to the sale of drugs, there are also camps of various kinds with loud music at any time of the night and people consuming alcohol. «In the neighborhood there is a situation of illegality that is truly scary and it would be appropriate for someone to take an interest in it – says Simone Gianfaldoni, president of the San Jacopino Active Citizens Committee – I ask this as a committee and as a citizen, a situation is no longer sustainable such. Even on a human level, it is not acceptable to see a 23 year old living in those conditions. We need to find better, more suitable accommodation and try to combat degradation and provide greater security.” This is a protest that the inhabitants of the neighborhood and the members of the committee have been making loudly for many months now, precisely because they are tired of witnessing continuous episodes of petty crime. «In San Jacopino, in Piazza Dallapiccola there are constant fights and bottle fights until three in the morning – explains Gianfaldoni – They promised us stewards and then no one was seen. It goes without saying that trust in institutions is starting to wane, people can’t take it anymore.”
