Scicli and the intimidating act at the fruit and vegetable counter, fundraising campaign to support the victims

Scicli has woken up once again hurt. In the night between Thursday and Friday, an arson fire had devastated a retail outlet, a fruit and vegetable stand in the square of via Ospedale, reducing to ashes years of work, sacrifices, and investments. This time, however, the cameras worked. And the victims, a family that has been suffering threats and acts of intimidation for months, have decided to tell everything, without more silence or half-truths. “What happened is not an isolated incident. It is the fourth warning. And this time, those who set the fire did an ‘excellent’ job, because they burned everything we had built,” they say with a clarity that does not erase their anger.

Their story does not begin with the last fire, but much earlier. The first sign comes at dawn, at the opening of the retail outlet: a bouquet of funeral flowers left on the counter, a disturbing message, direct, impossible to ignore. The second episode is even more serious: a fire in the countryside that destroys three-quarters of the land, agricultural machinery, furnishings, work tools. A devastating blow, both economically and emotionally. Then comes the third warning, again at the workplace: another fire, extinguished in time, but still capable of burning displays, goods, and peace of mind. And finally, the last, the most devastating, that of last night. “This time it went as they wanted. They destroyed everything. But at least the cameras captured who did it. And the nickname he carries suits him perfectly, because it is exactly that… perhaps even less.”

In the face of such violence, Scicli has reacted. A fundraising campaign has started to help the family rebuild what has been destroyed, to get back on their feet an activity that is not just a job, but identity, dignity, future. https://gofund.me/d266712a3  

“We do not ask for pity. We only ask to be able to start over. Not to let intimidation win. To show that a united community is worth more than the fire of those who want to destroy.”

Now the victims are asking for protection, justice, presence.

“We do not want to be left alone. We do not want the next fire to be the one that hits someone else. A strong, immediate, concrete response is needed.”

Scicli, once again, finds itself at a crossroads: to suffer or to react. And this story, as painful as it is, seems to have already ignited the best part of the city.