Goodbye to Gomorrah: the end of Italy’s most notorious housing estate
Famous as the setting for the hit film and TV series Gomorrah, the towers of Le Vele became synonymous with poverty and organised crime – until residents took charge
“When I think of my life in Le Vele, my skin crawls with rage,” says Omero Benfenati.
He looks out from a dark, narrow passageway framed by suspended steel stairways that block the natural light and lead up to abandoned apartments. Most of the windows are bricked up, and liquid leaks from split pipes on to the sewage and refuse-strewn asphalt several storeys below.