Mario Alifano

Caserta has always had a complicated existence. Located in one of the most temperate parts of Italy, its soil is prosperous, and its territories were once known as “Campania felix” (happy/lucky region.) Among other things, mafia-like organizations have sprouted such as the Casalesi Camorra clan. Its thriving territories have been subject to environmental poisoning to the point of becoming sadly known for the high rate of pollution, diseases and deaths.

Among the various issues plaguing this city I chose to focus on the consequences of favouring the logic of the economy above all other values. Caserta, like many other places in Italy and in the world, is paying the steep price of indiscriminate industrialization producing unsustainable quantities of waste are often disposed of illegally.

The collusion between politics, industry and the mafia greatly impacts the life of this province polluted with waste from all over Europe. Illegal landfills and buried waste of all kinds, such as chemical, toxic and carcinogenic wastes, added to unscrupulous industrial development that does not care for the environment, have direct consequences for all the human senses. The wounded and disfigured landscape pollutes the sight and smell of burnt or decaying waste, mixed with industrial dust, invades the air as much as everyday life.

In my photos and searches, I rediscovered the places that have seen me grow.