The Zen neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Palermo, feels abandoned by the government — and the mafia have moved in
Alongside the postcard-perfect images of Italy’s silent and deserted Renaissance squares under lockdown, there are the filthy streets of the Zen neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of Palermo. In one of the poorest districts in Europe, a stronghold of the local mafia, there appears no light at the end of the tunnel despite Italy being set to begin its route out of lockdown from next week.
Unemployment skyrocketed in the Zen – built in the 1960s as the city’s Zona Espansione Nord and falling into dilapidation in the decades after – when retailers were forced to close in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.
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