How Italy’s migrant-friendly mayor saw his dreams crumble
ON A WARM EVENING IN LATE SEPTEMBER, TWO FORMER mayors met in a law office in Locri, in Italy’s southern region of Calabria. One of them was Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano, the former mayor of Riace, a small town that has been celebrated worldwide for creating a visionary model for welcoming refugees. The other was Giuliano Pisapia, a lawyer who was mayor of Milan from 2011 to 2016 and is now acting as one of Lucano’s defenders in a legal battle that has gripped Italy. “I asked him to meet to clarify a couple of points before entering the courtroom,” says Pisapia, “but he ended up talking about his ideals. He is a dreamer.”
Lucano’s dream was to bring an abandoned town back to life by creating a safe haven for migrants to live, and possibly work, while seeking magazine included him among the 50 most influential world leaders.
