Sicily: Italian city bans mafia items | Travel News | Travel

This beautiful Italian island has imposed a new ban in an attempt to clean up its image and emphasise its cultural wealth rather than its mafia past.

The city of Agrigento in southern Sicily is preparing to become Italy’s cultural capital next year.

In the souvenir shops of Sicily you can often find mafia items, from magnets and t-shirts to bottle openers and shot glasses.

The Sicilian mafia is still active on the island, engaging in criminal activities such as extortion, drug trafficking and kidnapping.

Agrigento, a city in southern Sicily still struggling with the mafia, will also be Italy’s cultural capital in 2025.

In an effort to change its global image and counter the glorification of the criminal organization, the city has decided to ban the sale of mafia memorabilia.

Francesco Micciche, mayor of Agrigento, has banned the sale of souvenirs featuring mafia images.

Merchandise often features images and symbols of the underworld organization, such as Sicilians in traditional dress holding a sawn-off shotgun, a so-called ‘lupara’.

The ordinance is hoped to change the image that tourists have of the city and send a clear signal that the activities of the criminal organisation will not be tolerated by local authorities.

The mayor of Agrigento said: “Since the sale of such products in the territory of Agrigento is a humiliation for the local community, which has been committed for years to spreading a culture of legality, I am issuing a ban on the sale of any type of object that praises the mafia and organised crime or refers to the mafia and organised crime in any way and in any form.”

Local police have the authority to inspect souvenir shops and issue fines if prohibited items are found, although the exact amount of the fine has yet to be determined.

Agrigento wants to focus on its rich cultural heritage, rather than its mafia connections.

The city council has announced a cultural programme with 44 new projects that explore the relationship between humans and nature.