On January 17, Andrea Riccardi, Minister for Cooperation, Immigration and Integration in government Monti was visiting Rosarno (Calabria) to realize the situation. Each year, between the months of November and March, the municipality of 15,000 inhabitants “host” hundreds of seasonal immigrant workers, who are mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, which are used for harvesting citrus. Here, work contracts are a myth, the paid oscillate between 20 and 25 euros a day and there is rarely work for more than three days per week. [1]

During the season, these workers sleep wherever they can. The lucky ones rent dilapidated houses in the city center where the owners crammed them together for 100 euros per months. The others gather in abandoned houses or factories, in “the bush”, without water or electricity. [2] Yet in the aftermath of the revolt of African workers in Rosarno, 7 January 2010, the authorities were committed to close the ghettos and open “the village of solidarity” for hosting seasonal workers. Two years later, if the old ghettos no longer exist, others are built daily and the largest project announced has not been heard from.