It is chilly sufficient for the waitress serving within the lane exterior to be clad in a puffer jacket. But the diners, vacationers hardened by northern winters, appear untroubled as they savour their meals. An unexceptional scene. Besides that it’s previous 10pm and the restaurant is within the Quartieri Spagnoli, a gridiron of alleyways within the coronary heart of Naples that, till not too long ago, outsiders entered at their peril. Pickpocketing, mugging and bag-snatching had been all widespread—licensed and exploited by a clan of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia.
The opening of the Quartieri and different historically crime-ridden districts is symptomatic of profound modifications within the prison panorama of the town and its surrounding province. In 2023 there have been ten gangland killings, in contrast with 34 within the 12 months to mid-2013. Tried murders ascribed to the Camorra fell over the identical interval from 17 to only 4.
