ClosedMen Sinti

In Mantova, ten Sinti families have been living for 15 years in caravans for 15 and prefabs in the area of ​​Via Learco Guerra; even though they are Italian citizens, they are discriminated against and marginalized because of their ethnicity and live on Welfare: men collect iron, women engage in casual activities or door-to-door sales. Children attend Mantua elementary and middle schools, with many difficulties due to language and cultural diversity. Some adolescents attended the first years of higher technical education but do not not succeed in completing the course of study undertaken not only because of the poor economic situation of the families but also because of the difficulty in integrating into the Mantua society.

The Marcegaglia Foundation has decided to take up the challenge in the Mantua area with the aim of offering the Sinti Minority Families, 120 people currently residing in the Via Learco Guerra area, a concrete opportunity to escape from the ghettoist logic of the nomadic camp. A partnership with public and private partners has been created to overcome the condition of serious marginalization by integrating them into the Mantua social fabric.

The project “Men Sinti” – “we Sinti” in their language, aims, in line with the National Strategy, to solve the problem of marginalization of these people through a concrete commitment on 4 areas: work, housing, school and culture, where the beneficiaries will not be passive actors but will actively participate in the realization of all the actions put in place and will be the protagonists of their own development and social inclusion.