LIBERA Associazioni, nomi e numeri contro le mafie
Rome, Italy
TURNING CONFISCATED MAFIA PROPERTY INTO A LIVING
Some organizations resist the mafia by refusing to look away. Libera decided to take its property back — literally.
Founded in 1995 by Don Luigi Ciotti, a priest committed to social justice, Libera brings together more than 1,600 associations, cooperatives, and schools. It is a broad civil network promoting legality and acting against organized crime. One of its best-known achievements is a law, with the result that land once owned by mafia bosses is now farmed by people who sell wine, pasta, and olive oil under their own name.
WHERE LIBERA COMES FROM
Libera is a popular response to a series of bombings carried out by Cosa Nostra in the previous years. This effort built directly on the legacy of politician Pio La Torre. In 1982, La Torre fought for a ground-breaking law that was passed a few months after he was killed. It made it a crime to be a member of a mafia group. It also made it possible to seize and take away property connected to the mafia.
In 1996, Libera took this one BIG step further. It gathered over a million signatures in a petition that led to another law, this one mandating that assets taken from the mafia be put to good use for the community – an idea often hard to implement, but a huge leap forward nonetheless.
WHAT SETS LIBERA APART
Many organizations denounce organized crime and promote legality, which is great. And several Libera member organisations turn that denunciation into a supply chain — wine, pasta, olive oil, grown on land the mafia once controlled, sold under the Libera Terra label.
Libera is also known for its awareness-raising work, especially every March 21, when it holds a Day of Remembrance and Commitment across Italy, publicly remembering innocent mafia victims.
FACING THE PRESSURE
Farming confiscated land isn’t symbolic, and the mafia treats it accordingly. Libera Terra cooperatives face repeated arson and vandalism.
In Lentini, Sicily, fire destroyed over twenty hectares of organic wheat farmed by Cooperativa Beppe Montana. In Calabria’s Piana di Gioia Tauro, the Valle del Marro cooperative endured five intimidation incidents in under two months — theft, sabotaged irrigation, fires that destroyed crops.
WHERE THINGS STAND
Libera Terra cooperatives keep farming, rebuilding what gets burned or stolen. Produce keeps reaching supermarket shelves under its own name.
There’s no declared victory here. But three decades in, with a law still on the books and cooperatives still farming what once belonged to boss families, the model has outlasted a lot of skepticism.
WHY THIS ORGANIZATION IS HERE
Libera is probably the name here most Italians already know. One of its most important contributions is certainly speaking out against the mafia, and also courageously putting a Libera Terra label on products such as wine bottles and olive oil.
SOURCES
libera.it — Official website
Libera Terra — Cooperative network
La Via Libera — Coverage of arson attacks on confiscated land
SiracusaNews / SiracusaOggi — Lentini fire coverage
StrettoWeb — Oppido/Valle del Marro coverage