Barocco a luci rosse. Sesso e prostituzione a Lecce=Red light Baroque. Sex and prostitution in Lecce

Abstract

Red light Baroque. Sex and prostitution in Lecce. This paper is about all the dynamics of trade in human beings aimed at forced prostitution in Lecce: from recruitment in the country of origin up to the placing on the sidewalks. The journalistic inquiry aims to make light on a phenomenon otherwise never told in a city like Lecce, jealous of its beauty and elegance possibly known all over the world. Thanks to the availability of the anti-violence centre managers of "Libera Project" in Lecce, it was possible to know the stories of some Nigerian girls, victims of human beings trade, forced to suffer terrible physical and psychological brutalities by their countrymen, women and men. The investigation reveals the different dynamics existing between Romanian and Nigerian forced prostitution, or between prostitution practised in the apartments or on the way. The report highlights the extent in Salento of this phenomenon, a big business based on the women’s bodies, and both managed by the organised crime in Bari and the Camorra. Nevertheless, it seems that in Lecce public opinion cares more for the respectability of town (especially its old town), than for the safety of these women. The first version of this inquiry won the prize (section “unreleased papers”) dedicated to the memory of a young apulian investigative journalist, Michele Frascaro.