Stories of social redemption and goodness.

Often when we talk about prisoners we forget their humanity, we remember only the crime they committed, as if their entire existence was forever linked to their punishment.

The greatest challenge of contemporary society is to go beyond this perception, transforming prisons into inclusive places where they can be helped and re-educated to be “good citizens”.

There are many tools to achieve the goal of social reintegration. Among the various projects carried out in Italy, I was very impressed by the experience of Silvia Polleri, an entrepreneur with a big heart I’ve recently had the pleasure to meet at InGalera, the restaurant she created inside the Bollate prison in Milan.

Her goal is to give the prisoners who work there the opportunity to return to society with the “driving license” and the dignity of a citizen who respects the rules. The results of the Bollate prison to date are amazing: a recidivism of 17% compared to the national average of 70%.

But there is still a long way to go to bridge the gap that separates our world from theirs, as Silvia Polleri explains to me during the interview (in italian).

The prisoner is not his walking crime, the prisoner is a person and then there is the crime he has committed. Society is not ready yet to welcome people who have made a journey in a prison. We are all afraid of what we do not know.

The restaurant becomes a place of re-education.

Creating a quality restaurant inside a prison may seem like a crazy idea to some, but after having lunch or dinner there I assure you that you will immediately change your mind. Because InGalera is not just a restaurant, but “the most highly rated prison restaurant in Italy“, which unites the city with the prison world. A beautiful and welcoming place, where you can savor small bites of freedom and meet nice people like Mr. Davide, the cook, and Massimo, the restaurant host.

As Silvia explained to me, the idea of ​​this experience of “social contamination” was born even before launching the restaurant, when she was doing catering:

we even went to banks with the robbers…. They were entering a bank for the first time in livery, white gloves and a tray of cupcakes and pastries, instead of a Kalashnikov.

“Nonna Galeotta” in the bronx of the city.

Silvia has always loved cooking; she has been doing it since she was 12 years old. After teaching in schools of the difficult areas of Milan, which she calls the Bronx, she opened a catering for the Milanese bourgeoisie then ended up bringing the “bon ton” to jail with this restaurant where the food is of excellent quality, the dishes are served under big posters of the most famous prison films, such as “The Shawshank Redemption“, “The Green Mile” or “Escape from Alcatraz“.  Not to mention the wine list, assorted with exceptional reds, such as “Il Galeotto”, “Il Ricercato” and “Il Birbante”.

Everyone in prison calls Silvia “Nonna Galeotta”, even if that appellation doesn’t do justice to the incredible 20-year-old energy she gives off while talking about her project.

No man is an island.  

Even my father, a former ambassador and volunteer at Regina Coeli, an important roman prison, understood this.  He went there every day to talk to the prisoners trying to give them hope. I remember with admiration his commitment to them through “ennobling” activities, such as the literary competition organized at his expense to collect their thoughts and verses on isolation and detention within a publication.

Texts impregnated with so much suffering and loneliness, but also with the strong desire to change life and take a better path.

My father had a dream: to institute the feast of the good thief as in France, demonstrating that for everyone there is the possibility of redemption, because for him every man, for the love of God living and working in him as in every other human being, is not alone, but is part of all humanity.

Perhaps one day that dream will become reality, thanks to projects such as those carried out by Silvia Polleri.

This weekend let’s enjoy some good escape.

There is a famous quote of Gandhi that I like very much, because it expresses the value of the experiences of re-education and social inclusion carried out in the Bollate and Regina Coeli prisons:

freedom is not worth having, if it does not imply having the freedom to make mistakes.

It is with this inclusive message that I wish to launch a different FRAday, sharing the commitment of those who, like my father, have chosen to be alongside those who made mistakes. If you are interested, on Instagram and Facebook I will publish the texts, poems and thoughts of the inmates he has followed throughout his life.

Enjoy your freedom, it’s FRAday!