Palermo for Responsible Travelers: where to eat, drink & shop
Palermo and the anti-mafia movement
Welcome to Palermo and thank you for choosing responsible tourism!
It's likely that you've heard about the Mafia before, possibly through movies like The Godfather. At least that was the first time I heard that word.
The Godfather movies cemented this romanticized image of this criminal organization in our minds.
However, in Sicily, the reality of the Mafia is far from glamorous. This is why it’s important to strip its members of that aura of success and sophistication that cinema has created and take them for what they truly are: murderous, cruel, and ignorant men.
One of their sources of income is through extorting business owners to pay them a percentage of their profits, known as the "pizzo". Historically, this has been a significant source of income for them.
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