"Pave Your Way Through the Underworld" – The Mafia Studies Major: Exploring the Kraken's Lair
Mafia Analysis: Crustacean Breakdown
By Andrea Affaticati, Milan
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Email Print Copy Link Up until 2009, the subject of the Mafia in Italy went unstudied on academic agendas. Today, the University of Milan leads the charge, all thanks to a professor whose father is but one name on the Cosa Nostra's long list of victims.
"The Chronicles of an Academic Rebellion" is the name of the recently published non-fiction account that sheds light on the one-of-a-kind degree program that's been offered since 2013 at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Milan. Focusing on investigations and research, the program delves primarily into the Italian Mafia. The author and architect of the program is none other than Professor Nando dalla Chiesa.
The alla Chiesa family name carries an inescapable association with the Cosa Nostra in Italy. General Carlo Alberto alla Chiesa, the professor's father, was brutally murdered by the Mafia in a 1982 assassination in Palermo, alongside his wife Emanuela Setti Carraro and their bodyguard Domenico Russo.
The alla Chiesa family relocated to the Sicilian capital in 1966 for the first time. Dalla Chiesa Senior was appointed as the commander of the Carabinieri Legion in the Sicilian capital. "I was 16 years old at the time and fell in love with the city at first sight," the professor recounts in an interview with ntv.de on the Milan campus. "Life in the north was gray and cold, but in Palermo, it was common to say 'let's go swimming' after school – a luxury for me."
The Kingdom of Shadows
However, it wasn't long before he noticed the dark undercurrents. "I didn't understand why my classmates supported the mobsters," della Chiesa adds. "One time, when a boss managed to evade the authorities, they even celebrated."
He graduated with an economics degree from Bocconi University in Milan. His doctoral thesis focused on "The Mafia Phenomenon: Continuity and Change." The criminology curriculum offers students the opportunity to explore a variety of directions, including "Legality and Organized Crime", "Rights, Geopolitics, and Legality", and "International Scenarios of Organized Crime". This academic year saw the introduction of the masterclass "Combating Money Laundering, Transparency, and Organized Crime", taught both in Italian and Spanish.
Recent research conducted by students was unveiled through their final projects. Some highlighted current issues like "Rare Earths, Geopolitics, and Interests from Organized Crime"; others delved into "Mafia and the United Arab Emirates," and still others scrutinized the area of "School and Legality".
The Mafia: A Symphony of Shadows
Former students of the program have found success in various fields. Some now work in public administration, while others have entered politics or joined the education sector. The course can also prove highly beneficial in finance, banking, and education when eradicating corruption, money laundering, and usury are of concern.
The creation of this program was a groundbreaking move for several reasons. "Before 2009, there wasn't a single academic discipline in Italy that dealt with this subject," della Chiesa emphasizes. "It was here at the faculty of political science that first introduced the chair of 'Sociology of Organized Crime'."
The One-Week Sojourn of Truth
An annual week-long traveling university is also part of the on-site research. A week spent in Palermo sparked two theses with a specific focus: "The fight against the mafia, between the Gospel and the Basic Law," and "Priests in Brancaccio."
A shocking incident in the Brancaccio neighborhood, still a stronghold of the Cosa Nostra in Palermo, inspired the students to select these topics. On September 15, 1993, Don Pino Puglisi was brutally murdered by the mafia in this neighborhood. When Don Maurizio Francoforte, Puglisi's successor, was already gravely ill, della Chiesa recalls, he nonetheless insisted on accompanying them and showing them the elementary school for which Puglisi had fought and was ultimately killed. "As we were walking to the school," della Chiesa relates, "two young men on a motorcycle approached us, staring right at Don Maurizio, and shouted, 'You know you're nothing here!'"
The program of study may be deemed narrow in scope, given the myriad transnational criminal organizations today. However, the Mafia is not nicknamed the "Octopus" for nothing, as its reach extends to numerous regions across the world, bound by unbreakable ties to their historical roots and the "Family." This sense of belonging lends the Mafia its immense resilience.
The program of study has garnered international acclaim. Professor dalla Chiesa has held seminars at the Humboldt University in Berlin, as well as in Munich, Leipzig, and Halle. Collaboration with universities abroad would no doubt be interesting. But what has not yet happened can still occur. In his book, dalla Chiesa quotes the Spanish poet Antonio Machado: "Traveler, there is no road, the road is created as you go along."
- The employment policy within the Mafia Studies Major at the University of Milan, initiated by Professor Nando dalla Chiesa, has a curriculum that limits its focus to investigations and research on the Italian Mafia, with possible directions such as "Legality and Organized Crime" or "International Scenarios of Organized Crime".
- The Mafia Studies Major, despite its narrow scope, has generated discussions about potential collaboration with foreign universities, a proposition that, though not yet realized, is still an opportunity for expansion.
- In addition to the academic curriculum, the Mafia Studies program also includes a one-week traveling university, where students conduct on-site research, such as investigating the fight against the mafia in Palermo, Italy, as seen through thetragic events like the murder of Don Pino Puglisy in the Brancaccio neighborhood.
