Over the last 20 years, Lucano has gained a growing international reputation as the Mayor of accoglienza – welcome – after he started opening Riace’s empty houses to refugees. Since then, thousands of migrants from some 20 different countries have found shelter in the town. And that success has infuriated the xenophobes and extremists who now play a leading role in Italy’s government.[...]
But the charges are just the latest in a series of threats and allegations that have swirled around Riace’s first citizen in recent months. First, the state funding awarded to local authorities to host refugees was slow to arrive, and then blocked altogether. Last year Lucano was accused of misuse of public funds – a charge later dismissed. He has suffered abuse on social media and attacks by the ‘Ndrangheta. RAI, the Italian TV, recently suspended broadcasting of a fictional film based on his work. Finally, this summer, Lucano started a hunger strike, warning that mounting debts would mean the end of the ‘Riace model’, throwing 165 refugees onto the streets, including 50 children.[...]
Not that he enjoys uncritical backing from Italy’s fragmented left. Some people ask whether it is appropriate for an elected mayor to be sidestepping legal tendering rules, for example. “I would do something illegal 1,000 times to save just one human life,” replies Lucano defiantly. Even supporters question the sustainability of the project. Calabria is one of the EU’s poorest regions. Just as local inhabitants are forced out to find work, most of Riace’s refugees have to move on in the long term. Other commentators fear that going to the barricades over Riace will merely increase support for the far right, given the widespread anti-immigrant sentiments in Italy.
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