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In Pozzuoli, near Naples, a priest has set up a project to reintegrate former prisoners: “It’s a concrete job opportunity to manage a museum and a cathedral. You will have to watch them and be a guide.” Excerpt from the magazine “We, the Europeans” broadcast Sunday April 3, 2022 at 10:40 a.m. on France 3.
It has been six months since Mariateresa took art history courses to become a guide at the largest European tourist site run solely by reintegration prisoners, in Pozzuoli, near Naples. This former prisoner reviews aloud: “The temple was transformed into a church and later became a baroque cathedral.” And then, it’s the big day, that of the first visit. The moment to face the gaze of tourists like Giulia and Gianpaolo who participate in this project imagined by the priest Don Gennaro Pagano, director of the Regina Pacis educational center. Now they are the guides.
“Welcome! My name is Giulia. Excuse my emotion… I am part of the Puteoli sacra project which will make you discover the oldest places in Pozzuoli and which also gives people the opportunity to redeem themselves by working in this place historical.” Now it’s Mariateresa’s turn to get started: “This is where the first foundations of the town of Pozzuoli were built”, she explains to the tourists. Everything that these new guides had not had the chance to study in their childhood, they are the ones who pass it on to others today.
“We heal… little by little”
At the heart of the cathedral, a 17th century masterpiece particularly touches the one that now enlightens visitors: the painting of a woman from the time of Caravaggio. Artemisia Gentileschi, raped by her art teacher, will then struggle to make her voice heard. “Think of the strength of this woman who fought in the 17th century in the name of her dignity, Giulia said to the audience. Personally, I feel very connected to Artemisia. She is an educator for all women. An example. We were injured and we are healing…little by little.”
A healing that calls out to the top of the Italian state… Gianpaolo keeps the video of the visit of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella on his mobile phone in September 2021. The ex-inmate of the prison of the island of Nisida thus had the privilege of being the guide of the Head of State on an official visit: “President Mattarella congratulated me because I explained to him, by heart and to perfection, the details of this canvas painted in 1636. It represents San Gennaro who makes the beasts bow down. It’s a miracle”, he confides to the magazine “We the Europeans” (replay).
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