June 5, 2024 | by Editorial Staff
A new episode of vandalism has hit the city of Salerno. The mural dedicated to Giancarlo Siani, created by the writers Mc-Nenya (Stefano Santoro) and Amed (Giuseppe De Martino) in the parking lot of the community centre, was defaced with offensive writing. Fortunately, the gesture was made with non-indelible chalk, but this does not diminish the insult to the journalist’s memory and to the work of many volunteers who contributed to the creation of the work.
Giancarlo Siani, known for being a “journalist journalist” and for his activity against organized crime, remains an uncomfortable figure even after his death. The work, inaugurated on 3 May 2023 on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of journalists killed by the mafia and terrorism, was promoted by the cooperative “Il Villaggio di Esteban” as part of the journalistic-social project “Paperboy”, with the collaboration by Retake Salerno.
The community reaction was immediate. The PaperBoy editorial team published a post on social media to ironically thank the authors of the gesture, underlining that “a little chalk goes away, your ignorance (which is never the cause, but rather a consequence), we would like to fill it instead in a only way: by inviting you to come and visit us in the editorial office where we will be happy to explain to you who Giancarlo Siani was”. Gianmario Siani, Giancarlo’s nephew, also responded to the message, offering his availability to tell his uncle’s story to the authors of the disfigurement.
Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. In recent months, Salerno has seen an increase in vandalism against works of street art and cultural heritage. The murals dedicated to the poet Alfonso Gatto along the staircase of the Mutilati were repeatedly defaced, and monuments such as the fountain of Largo Conforti and the facade of the Santa Sofia Complex were targeted.
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