That it was a abusive party for a double birthdayor of a ‘mission’ for a video authorized by the owner which was meant to promote the islet that gives its name to Isola delle Femmine – a small municipality in the Palermo area that looks at it from the mainland a few hundred metres away – of an iHowever, the invasion took place. To accomplish it one eighty exponents of the ‘good’ city bourgeoisie. Now investigations are underway to understand how it was possible that this little protected paradiseone of the most important landing places for the birds that come here to nest, has been attacked, despite the ban on even guided tours until June 30th.
And so, the day after the wild landing occurred during the night between Saturday and Sundaythe intervention continues Flag, which is entrusted with the defense of the Sicilian nature reserve. “We asked – explains the general director of the Italian Bird Protection League – Danilo Wild – the intervention of the police, who arrived quickly (coast guard, finance police, carabinieri), interrupting the party and identifying the participants. The situation was a carpet of cigarette butts, plastic cups, plastic and glass bottles and wood piled up to make a bonfire. Some of the participants held signs that read ‘Save the Planet'”. The LIPU director insists: “It may also be that in this initiative there was – at least in some, in a small part – good faith, but we can no longer allow, in the twenty-first century, in the heart of the environmental crisis, that a protected area is invaded in full nesting phase – when even our guided tours are suspended“.
The party organized by two doctors: the investigations
Meanwhile, the financial police have identified the participants in the unauthorized party on the islet of Isola delle Femmine, a few kilometers from Palermo, a designated nature reserve. Their positions are being evaluated. About 80 of them moved from a club on the coast to the islet. Music and dancing, which as explained by the Italian League for the Protection of Birds, which manages those places, it would not have been possible to allow, were interrupted by the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza. The military are arrived with the patrol boats and then also the crews of a dozen patrols between carabinieri and policemen.
With boats the guests, professionals and entrepreneurs, reached the 15 hectares of rock where a partially destroyed tower stands out. The party was organized by two twin brothers who are doctors. Last year the two toasted at Fiumara d’arte, in the province of Messina, other times in rented villas. It seems that a communication was made about the event, but the management of the reserve claims not to have had any warning.
“From 1998 until yesterday, no one had thought of storming the islet. A very serious fact indeed. Also because in this period there are species that nest on the island and from March 1st to June 30th visits are suspended as is written on the island where the regulation is posted in several places”, he explained Vincent of God, director of the reserve managed by Lipu.
“I carried out an inspection on the island. A real mess – adds Di Dio -. Lots of cigarette butts, glass and plastic bottles and lots of glasses. They piled up some wood and wanted to make a bonfire. A real disaster. The reserve is usable, but through routes and paths. Many people arrive on the islet and leave this reserve area better than they found it, certainly not in this way”.
Investigators are checking then that part of the reserve were disembarked the guests at the party. Whether in the absolute protection area or in the area where visits are organised.
Images of the party held on the Isola delle Femmine between Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th June
The DJ: “It wasn’t a party we were shooting videos. There was no desire to damage the island”
“It wasn’t a party, but a video clip to be made on the islet of Isola delle Femmine commissioned by the twin brothers, both doctors, Vito and Antonio Triolo. They had the authorization from the owner of the islet the Marchesa Paola Pilo Bacci per create the video to enhance the beauty of the island“. He states it Maurizio Giglio, famous DJ from Palermo known as “Mauriziotto” now retired who for years was an employee of the coast guard and also responsible for the maritime office of Isola delle Femmine. “I am not the organizer of the event on the islet. I only agreed to be a DJ for the video clip. I read the authorization from the owner and I was assured that both the Port Authority and the management body had been notified for the production of the video clip – adds Maurizio Giglio – How it ended is known. But I reiterate that there was no intention to damage the island but create a video on the four fundamental elements of nature for the Greek philosophers, water, air, earth and fire”. “I was a soldier of the coast guard, I would never have participated in a party on the islet. It would have been serious. The party was supposed to be held at the Beach Club, where we then went to Isola delle Femmine. There is no profit, we wanted to have the party there for the video, but we were moving when the authorities intervened, who stopped us and made us disembark safely”, adds Giglio.
Lipu signs on the Isola delle Femmine, Palermo
The Island of Women: Marine Reserve since 1997
The islet, visible from the motorway to Falcone Borsellino airport, has always sparked people’s curiosity about its historyIts name seems to derive from “Insula Fimi”, island of Euphemius, from the name of the Byzantine governor of Sicily. The reserve was established there in 1997 by the Sicilian Region and has been managed by Lipu since 1998. “The island is a strategic point during migrations: in fact, species such as the cormorant, the gray heron, the kingfisher and the egret or numerous small passerines, some of the such as nesting ones, such as the redstart, the black-headed wagtail and the wagtail, as well as the birds of prey from the surrounding areas such as the buzzard and the peregrine falcon – they state to Lipu – In addition to the various species of birds, there are also the field lizard, the rat snake , the wild rabbit, numerous colorful butterflies such as the icarus and the zygena together with various beetles”.
The place has given rise to various legends. Among these, the one that says that a women’s penitentiary stood on the islet in ancient times. But archaeologists have not found any remains of prisons. Another story tells that the Count of Capaci fell in love with a local woman and had her imprisoned on the islet of Isola delle femmine so that no other man would touch her. But she did not reciprocate and on a mistral night, while the sea was stormy, she threw herself between the rocks, dying. What is certain is, as local scholars say, that the islet, owned by the heirs of Rosolino Pilo, in addition to being a nature reserve, is recognized by the European Union as a special conservation area.
