Everything started during a friend meeting in the summer of 2004. We were daydreaming about opening a pub.
But then someone said: “What if they ask us for the pizzo?”. In sicily this is the name of racket: pizzo.
It is the system the mafia uses to impose tax and bring territory under their control. The next day, Palermo woke up with walls, light poles and phone booths covered by these stickers:

It reads: “A WHOLE PEOPLE WHO PAYS THE PIZZO IS A PEOPLE WITHOUT DIGNITY”. Contrary to expectations, the city seemed to wake up and react. Around the boys who had pasted stickers during the first night a group of young people began to gather who shared the same idea. As long as somebody continues to pay the pizzo we will not be free. Because if my baker pays the pizzo, I am giving money to the mafia when I buy bread too, and so I submit myself to the mafia. In this way the Comittee Addiopizzo was born.

Since the first stickers we have gone a long way. Above all, we have found a new strategy to fight mafia: critical shopping against pizzo. The campaign “Against pizzo change your shopping habits” wants to create a group of consumers in Palermo and in the region, ready to support businesses who stand up against racket and, overcoming fear, denounce their extorters.

You too can show your support for our campaign, even if you don’t live in Italy, by filling in the form below and leaving a message if you want. These are the name of supporters and a selection of messages left in our Guestbook: