Derive, Italy in crisis

With the advent of the economic crisis, for Italy has been increasingly difficult to manage the social and environmental problems that afflict the Country.

With the advent of the economic crisis, for Italy has been increasingly difficult to manage the social and environmental problems that afflict the Country. From the waste emergency in Campania to the floods in Tuscany, from the Emilia and L'Aquila earthquakes up to the sinking of the Costa Concordia at Isola del Giglio. The crisis of the world of work and business and the one of rail transport with the movements of protest in Val di Susa, show a Country which is living his most difficult era from the Second World War.

Drifts chronicles the lives, hopes and dreams of Italian people: it is a journey in social unease that many Italians are forced to live in this period.

DRIFTS IS A COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC REPORTAGES DESCRIBING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES HAPPENED IN ITALY FROM 2008 TO 2013. THE MATERIAL WAS COMPLETED IN 2013 AND FIRST PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2013 IN THE BOOK "DERIVE".

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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Crisis - Earthquake - Collapse. After more than a year from the earthquake that hit the areas of Emilia, the reconstruction struggles and the aids promised by the State are blocked because of too much bureaucracy. The bank system is slowing down the reconstruction. In many cases they are blocking the aids and the contributions with a cynical and not constructive attitude. The problem is not the money, unlocked as early as January, but who should disburse this.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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Each day from the province of Milan 800 tons of waste are moved in Germany. The overall production is more than 1300 tons. There are missing 500. No one knows where they end up. With great probability these wastes are scattered around the province of Naples.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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Since more than four years after the earthquake L'Aquila is a ghost town: abandoned. The buildings transfigured, show the wounds of the last year and of the previous one. Props and shoring are rusting. On the streets there is almost no one, only the Army in defense of nowhere. Cranes give to the horizon a new skyline and tons of rubble in the old town, slow down even more the reconstruction itself. Along with the bureaucracy and complexity of the reconstruction plans, to make it even more difficult is the growing of criminal infiltrations: the amount of money around a tragedy of this size is immense, a business to which the Italian Mafia certainly can not give up.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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An Italian always believes that after a war, a crisis, or a severe plague comes a Liberation, a Redemption day, an anniversary that we can all celebrate together reminding us how we were and how we are and in spite of it all, what we have become.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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Floods are among the most typical manifestations of hydrogeological that unfortunately plagues many parts of our Country. In fact, it is estimated that 5581 provinces are under hydrogeological risk, about 70% of Italian municipalities, of which 1700 to landslide risk, 1285 are under flood risk and 2596 are under both risks. In addition, the areas of high risk and very high flood are several thousand and cover an area of ​​7,774 square kilometers, accounting for 2.6% of the national area.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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The railway industry focus on the development of costly and impractical high-speed lines which are responsible for many of the environmental damages in the areas of its passage. In Val di Susa, the valley-dwellers have been fighting for years against high-speed railway lines, deemed unnecessary and costly.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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In Italy during 2013 many businesses have closed, emigrated, and or are absorbed, because of the crisis: the few remaining businesses are forced to pay high taxes, resulting in reduced wages and lower quality standards. Cost cutting on the workers safety and on the upkeep and maintenance of the plants is also taking place.

© Stefano Vigni - Image from the Derive, Italy in crisis photography project
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Tourists begin to snub the island that until a few years ago was known as natural paradise. In 2012, tourists have been less than a third of the previous years. Thousands of people went on the island just to see the wreck. On one side there's concern about the effect that the tragedy has had on the economy of the island, on the other hand increases the fear of the environmental disaster. The risks to the environment continue to grow and work is delayed by several months compared to the initial program.

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