What memories do places retain of the things that happened in them? Try going to Quarto, near Genoa, to see the rocks from which Garibaldi's thousand Red Shirts set sail on their great adventure; or to Via Caetani, in Rome, where the dead body of the politician Aldo Moro was found abandoned in the boot of a car. In both places there is a plaque, a monument, an object and an inscription, to record what happened on that spot, years, decades, a century ago. Are these places impervious to memory, or do they keep it as a part of their identity?
It is a question hard to answer, yet it needs to be asked when looking at these photographs by Tommaso Bonaventura and Alessandro Imbriaco, realised for the research project curated by Fabio Severo. They represent places where a Mafia-style crime was committed — hence the title of the project, Corpi di Reato ("Corpora Delicti"). It could be a murder, building speculation, a house where a criminal at large has lived, or one still inhabited by a mobster; a whole suburb with a clan of gangsters ensconced in it; or courtrooms, archives of court cases, bunkers, legal evidence, statues of slain judges. These places, spaces and buildings, framed by the lens of Bonaventura and Imbriaco, are intended to indicate not just a criminal act, but also a visual presence: the Mafia is here, all around us. At one time, the photographs that portrayed this criminal association represented the murders of eminent figures and Sicilian landscapes: old-fashioned images that confirmed clichés; photographs of customs and traditions, sedimented in the eyes of the whole country. But then, after the slaughters it wrought during the 1990s, the Mafia emerged from its customary landscape of palm trees, olive groves, cliffs, dry-stone walls, donkeys, cloth caps, moustachioed men, black-clad women, portraits of criminal absconders, bandits and so on, and moved into a sort of invisibility.
![Top: For years the Ionian-Reggio
’ndrangheta clans have been
infiltrating public contracts
in the Cinisi region, including bids
for the modernisation of
Highway 106. They have a
widespread grip on every
stage of these works: from
concrete to labour, site
supplies, sub-contracting
and equipment hire. This
abandoned road-building site
on the 106 Ionica Highway, in
Calabria, was seized in 2007
under a court order, after the
collapse of a tunnel caused
by the use of low-strength
concrete. In a tapped phone
conversation, Vincenzo
Capozza, director of Anas (the
Italian Roads Authority) said:
“The inverted arch should
have followed the face, and
the tunnels should have been
at 50 metres… If these things
are underestimated, this is
what happens.” He went on
to prepare a strategy to avoid
responsibility: “No, we’ll
blame the mountain, that’s for
sure, it’s obvious…” Capozza
has since been arrested and
the road-building site is still
unfinished. Above: Cinisi. The
stretch of the Palermo-Trapani
railway where the corpse
of Peppino Impastato was
found, 9 May 1978 Top: For years the Ionian-Reggio
’ndrangheta clans have been
infiltrating public contracts
in the Cinisi region, including bids
for the modernisation of
Highway 106. They have a
widespread grip on every
stage of these works: from
concrete to labour, site
supplies, sub-contracting
and equipment hire. This
abandoned road-building site
on the 106 Ionica Highway, in
Calabria, was seized in 2007
under a court order, after the
collapse of a tunnel caused
by the use of low-strength
concrete. In a tapped phone
conversation, Vincenzo
Capozza, director of Anas (the
Italian Roads Authority) said:
“The inverted arch should
have followed the face, and
the tunnels should have been
at 50 metres… If these things
are underestimated, this is
what happens.” He went on
to prepare a strategy to avoid
responsibility: “No, we’ll
blame the mountain, that’s for
sure, it’s obvious…” Capozza
has since been arrested and
the road-building site is still
unfinished. Above: Cinisi. The
stretch of the Palermo-Trapani
railway where the corpse
of Peppino Impastato was
found, 9 May 1978](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_1402_004Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![The sanctuary of the
Madonna di Polsi in San Luca,
Calabria. Every year in the
autumn, ’ndrangheta bosses
from all over Italy and abroad
gather at this 12th-century
sanctuary situated near San
Luca, one of the Calabria
Mafia’s main strongholds,
to agree on strategies and
make decisions. Accounts
of Mafia meetings in this
sanctuary, in the depths of
the Aspromonte Mountains,
date back at least to 1903 The sanctuary of the
Madonna di Polsi in San Luca,
Calabria. Every year in the
autumn, ’ndrangheta bosses
from all over Italy and abroad
gather at this 12th-century
sanctuary situated near San
Luca, one of the Calabria
Mafia’s main strongholds,
to agree on strategies and
make decisions. Accounts
of Mafia meetings in this
sanctuary, in the depths of
the Aspromonte Mountains,
date back at least to 1903](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_3886_017Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
After the slaughters in the 1990s, the Mafia has become a scattered, multiform reality
![Documents relating to
the maxi-trial conducted
in Palermo, stored at the
International Centre for Mafia
Documentation (CIDMA)
in Corleone. Held between
10 February 1986 and 16
December 1987 in a fortified
courtroom at Ucciardone
Prison, the trial concerned
474 accused, 119 tried in their
absence, 360 found guilty
and sentenced to a total of
2,665 years’ imprisonment,
plus 19 life sentences handed
down to a number of bosses,
including Michele Greco and
the fugitives Salvatore Riina
and Bernardo Provenzano.
The trial of first instance
involved 349 hearings in 22
months, 35 days of council
chamber sittings, and 6,901
pages of drafted sentence
motivations. Subsequent
stages of judgement
continued until 1992 Documents relating to
the maxi-trial conducted
in Palermo, stored at the
International Centre for Mafia
Documentation (CIDMA)
in Corleone. Held between
10 February 1986 and 16
December 1987 in a fortified
courtroom at Ucciardone
Prison, the trial concerned
474 accused, 119 tried in their
absence, 360 found guilty
and sentenced to a total of
2,665 years’ imprisonment,
plus 19 life sentences handed
down to a number of bosses,
including Michele Greco and
the fugitives Salvatore Riina
and Bernardo Provenzano.
The trial of first instance
involved 349 hearings in 22
months, 35 days of council
chamber sittings, and 6,901
pages of drafted sentence
motivations. Subsequent
stages of judgement
continued until 1992](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_6557_023Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Statues of magistrates
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo
Borsellino, by Palermo-based
sculptor Tommaso Domina.
Unveiled in Via Libertà in
Palermo in the summer of
2010, they were vandalised by
unknown delinquents less than
24 hours later. The statues
were subsequently relocated
to the atrium of the Palermo
Law Courts Statues of magistrates
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo
Borsellino, by Palermo-based
sculptor Tommaso Domina.
Unveiled in Via Libertà in
Palermo in the summer of
2010, they were vandalised by
unknown delinquents less than
24 hours later. The statues
were subsequently relocated
to the atrium of the Palermo
Law Courts](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_7591_024Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![In 1980 the family
of boss Raffaele Cutolo
bought the Castello Mediceo
in Ottaviano (Naples)
and converted it into the
headquarters of the Nuova
Camorra Organizzata. The
castle (also called Palazzo
del Principe) was confiscated
in 1991 and requisitioned for
the Ottaviano Town Council In 1980 the family
of boss Raffaele Cutolo
bought the Castello Mediceo
in Ottaviano (Naples)
and converted it into the
headquarters of the Nuova
Camorra Organizzata. The
castle (also called Palazzo
del Principe) was confiscated
in 1991 and requisitioned for
the Ottaviano Town Council](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_3568_026Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Via Salieri in Buccinasco,
Milan. Police reconstructions
indicate that the two
bazookas found in 2005 in
the vicinity of this street were
used by the ’ndrangheta mob
to blow up the car of Milanbased
public prosecutor
Alberto Nobili Via Salieri in Buccinasco,
Milan. Police reconstructions
indicate that the two
bazookas found in 2005 in
the vicinity of this street were
used by the ’ndrangheta mob
to blow up the car of Milanbased
public prosecutor
Alberto Nobili](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_8266_027Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Via Boito in Giussano, 30
km north of Milan. The maxitrial
named “Infinito”, against
infiltration by Mafia clans in
North Italy, revealed that the
family of boss Antonio Stagno
owned several apartments
in this street, inhabited by
various associates and used
for meetings of senior clan
members Via Boito in Giussano, 30
km north of Milan. The maxitrial
named “Infinito”, against
infiltration by Mafia clans in
North Italy, revealed that the
family of boss Antonio Stagno
owned several apartments
in this street, inhabited by
various associates and used
for meetings of senior clan
members](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_8134_029Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![The Buccinasco Più housing
development on the outskirts
of Milan. Work began at the
end of 2004; in July 2008,
members of the Barbaro-
Papalia clan who worked
on building sites in the area
were arrested. According to
magistrates, polluted earth
was used as infill for roads
in the district and even for
the playground on the Spina
Verde housing complex.
The Barbaro clan’s trucks
operated under the protection
of companies belonging
to Lombard entrepreneur
Maurizio Luraghi, who was
sentenced in 2010 for having
associations with organised
crime. In March 2012, the sentence has been annulled and the process reinstated The Buccinasco Più housing
development on the outskirts
of Milan. Work began at the
end of 2004; in July 2008,
members of the Barbaro-
Papalia clan who worked
on building sites in the area
were arrested. According to
magistrates, polluted earth
was used as infill for roads
in the district and even for
the playground on the Spina
Verde housing complex.
The Barbaro clan’s trucks
operated under the protection
of companies belonging
to Lombard entrepreneur
Maurizio Luraghi, who was
sentenced in 2010 for having
associations with organised
crime. In March 2012, the sentence has been annulled and the process reinstated](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_4962_030Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![The ex-servicemen and
war veterans’ association
at San Vittore Olona, near
Milan. Here, on 14 July
2008, Carmelo Novella, the
then head of the Lombard
’ndrangheta mob, was slain
by two killers hired by the
Reggio Calabria bosses
following his push for greater
autonomy. The Novella
homicide marked the start of
the “Infinito” investigation,
which in 2011 led to the
arrest of around 300
members of the Lombard
wing of ’ndrangheta The ex-servicemen and
war veterans’ association
at San Vittore Olona, near
Milan. Here, on 14 July
2008, Carmelo Novella, the
then head of the Lombard
’ndrangheta mob, was slain
by two killers hired by the
Reggio Calabria bosses
following his push for greater
autonomy. The Novella
homicide marked the start of
the “Infinito” investigation,
which in 2011 led to the
arrest of around 300
members of the Lombard
wing of ’ndrangheta](/content/dam/domusweb/en/architecture/2012/11/14/the-memory-of-landscapes/big_399886_9697_031Corpi_di_Reato1.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)