Addiopizzo

Addiopizzo, meaning “Goodbye pizzo,” is a civic movement founded in Palermo, Sicily, to oppose the payment of pizzo, the protection money demanded by Mafia groups from businesses. Rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, Addiopizzo uses consumer solidarity, public education, business networking, tourism, and community organizing to make resistance to extortion more visible and practical. The movement emerged in 2004 when five young Palermo graduates considered opening a bar and recognized that they could be expected to pay a Mafia levy. Instead of accepting that condition, they organized a public campaign against extortion. The group placed posters and stickers around Palermo styled like obituary notices, carrying the message that a population which pays pizzo loses its dignity. The campaign transformed opposition to extortion from an individual risk borne by isolated shopkeepers into a collective social issue. Addiopizzo’s central idea is often compared with Fair Trade. It encourages consumers to practice “critical consumption” by buying from businesses that refuse to pay protection money, while helping participating traders identify themselves as part of a wider network. Its visual identity includes a broken circle and a cross-like mark alongside the phrase consumo critico, or “critical consumption.” The movement has also promoted demonstrations, public events, school programs, and cooperation with law-enforcement and public authorities. By 2007, the Palermo initiative was reported to include around 210 traders and entrepreneurs, as well as more than 9,000 consumers who had committed to favoring businesses on its pizzo-free list. Addiopizzo also supported educational activity in schools and other institutions, where prosecutors and police officers participated in discussions about organized crime, civic responsibility, and resistance. In May 2006 it organized a pizzo-free festival in a major Palermo square. In March 2008 it helped launch Punto Pizzofree, a pizzo-free supermarket in Palermo, bringing its ethical-consumption model into a retail setting. The initiative later expanded beyond Palermo. Addiopizzo Catania was established in 2006 with similar aims: discouraging businesses from paying extortion, educating residents, and challenging the normalization of Mafia control over economic life. In 2012, representatives of Addiopizzo Catania were invited to present their activities to the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering, highlighting the movement’s relevance to wider European cooperation against organized crime. Addiopizzo Travel extends the movement’s principles into tourism. It helps visitors locate hotels, restaurants, shops, and other services that reject pizzo, and organizes anti-Mafia tours for schools, universities, and other groups. Through this work, the organization links tourism spending with civic choice and presents Sicily through the experiences of communities opposing organized crime. Addiopizzo’s historical context includes the 1991 public resistance of Palermo businessman Libero Grassi, who published an open letter addressed to an anonymous extortionist and was murdered by the Mafia later that year. The movement belongs to a younger generation shaped by the killings of anti-Mafia judges, journalists, and businesspeople. Its continuing significance lies in making anti-extortion solidarity a visible part of everyday commerce, education, travel, and public culture.

Addiopizzo developed in Palermo in 2004 against the background of Sicily’s long struggle with Mafia extortion. Pizzo is the money demanded from businesses in exchange for supposed protection, and its routine payment can give criminal organizations influence over local commerce and social life. The movement’s formation was also shaped by the example of Libero Grassi, a Palermo businessman who publicly rejected extortion in 1991. Grassi published an open letter to an anonymous extortionist in the Giornale di Sicilia, but was murdered by the Mafia on 29 August of that year. His resistance later became an important reference point for civic campaigns against pizzo. Addiopizzo began when five Palermo graduates considered opening a bar and realized that accepting extortion would be treated as an expected cost of doing business. They chose to organize instead. In the early campaign, stickers and posters were placed around Palermo in a style resembling death notices. Their message argued that a society paying pizzo forfeits its dignity. The campaign made collective refusal the movement’s defining principle and used the phrase consumo critico, or critical consumption, to encourage people to support businesses that resisted extortion. The organization combined public demonstrations with a business and consumer network. Participating traders could identify themselves as pizzo-free, while consumers were encouraged to use a directory or list of participating shops and services. This model was frequently compared with Fair Trade because it linked purchasing decisions with social and ethical commitments. Addiopizzo also sought cooperation with authorities: by 2007, police and the prefect were reported to have agreed to provide discreet protection to member businesses. Its educational work extended to more than 90 schools and educational institutions, with prosecutors and police taking part in programs about Mafia power, legality, and civic responsibility. In May 2006, Addiopizzo organized a pizzo-free festival in one of Palermo’s principal squares. The initiative expanded in the same year through Addiopizzo Catania, which pursued similar goals in another major Sicilian city. By 2007, reports described a network of approximately 210 traders and entrepreneurs and more than 9,000 committed consumers. The movement then moved further into practical retail activism. Punto Pizzofree, a pizzo-free supermarket in Palermo, opened in March 2008 and gave the campaign a permanent commercial setting. Addiopizzo’s work attracted attention partly because the economic burden of extortion was substantial. Contemporary estimates cited in reference material described large annual payments by Palermo-area businesses and widespread exposure among Sicilian enterprises. The movement’s response was not simply to ask individual owners to make dangerous declarations; it attempted to create a visible market and community in which resistance could be shared by many businesses and reinforced by customers. The organization later developed Addiopizzo Travel, a tourism-focused project that helps visitors find hotels, restaurants, shops, and other services that refuse pizzo. It also arranges anti-Mafia tours for schools, universities, and interested groups. This work connects tourism with local civic life and allows visitors to support businesses based on their relationship to organized-crime resistance. Addiopizzo Catania’s work gained an international policy dimension in 2012, when a delegation of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering invited representatives to report on their activities. Addiopizzo remains best understood as a civic movement rather than a conventional consumer-goods company: its principal output is a network of information, solidarity, education, and ethical economic participation.

• 2012

  European Parliament committee engagement

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Addiopizzo Catania was invited to submit information about its work to a European Parliament committee examining organized crime, corruption, and money laundering.

• 2008

  Punto Pizzofree opens

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  A pizzo-free supermarket opened in Palermo, giving the ethical-consumption campaign a dedicated retail venue.

• 2007

  Network expands to traders and consumers

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Reported figures indicated about 210 participating traders and entrepreneurs and more than 9,000 consumers committed to supporting pizzo-free businesses.

• 2006

  Addiopizzo Catania is founded

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  The movement’s approach was extended to Catania through a local initiative focused on business resistance, education, and cultural change.

• 2006

  First pizzo-free festival

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Addiopizzo held a public festival in Palermo to bring together participating businesses, consumers, and supporters.

• 2004

  Addiopizzo is founded in Palermo

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Five graduates organized a campaign against the expected payment of pizzo and began distributing anti-extortion messages throughout Palermo.

• 1991

  Libero Grassi publicly rejects Mafia extortion

  [1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Palermo businessman Libero Grassi published an open letter condemning extortion. His subsequent murder became a major reference point for later anti-Mafia civic activism.

A civic and ethical-consumption movement that connects businesses, consumers, educators, travelers, and public institutions in collective opposition to Mafia extortion.

• Ethical commerce network · 2004

  Pizzo-free business network

  A network and directory of businesses that publicly reject Mafia extortion payments. It enables consumers to direct spending toward participating traders and gives individual businesses a collective identity rather than leaving them to resist in isolation.

• Ethical tourism

  Addiopizzo Travel

  A tourism project that helps visitors locate accommodation, restaurants, shops, and other services committed to operating without paying pizzo. It also offers anti-Mafia educational tours for schools, universities, and other groups.

• Retail initiative · 2008

  Punto Pizzofree

  A Palermo supermarket created around the principle of pizzo-free consumption. Its opening translated Addiopizzo’s public campaign into a dedicated retail environment where customers could support the movement through everyday purchases.

• 2006Pizzo-free festival

  Palermo

  A public event brought together businesses, consumers, and supporters of the anti-extortion movement in a prominent Palermo square.

  Outcome. The festival increased the visibility of pizzo-free commerce and collective participation.

  Source
• 2004A whole people who pays the pizzo is a people without dignity

  Palermo · Sicily

  Addiopizzo used obituary-style posters and stickers to confront the normalization of Mafia extortion and call for collective refusal.

  Outcome. The campaign established the movement’s public identity and helped frame anti-extortion resistance as a shared civic and consumer responsibility.

  Source
• Critical consumption

  Palermo · Catania · Sicily

  Through the consumo critico concept, Addiopizzo encourages consumers to favor businesses that refuse Mafia extortion and to make purchasing a form of civic participation.

  Outcome. The approach created a consumer-facing framework for supporting businesses that reject pizzo.

  Source
• Addiopizzo Travel anti-Mafia tourism

  Sicily

  The travel project promotes pizzo-free accommodation, dining, shopping, and educational tours for visitors and organized groups.

  Outcome. It connects tourism spending and educational travel with support for local anti-Mafia businesses.

  Source

• 2008

  Launch Punto PizzofreeProduct launch

  Background

  Addiopizzo sought to make ethical purchasing concrete and accessible through a dedicated retail outlet.

  Action taken

  The movement helped open Punto Pizzofree, a pizzo-free supermarket in Palermo.

  Aftermath

  The supermarket gave international visibility to Addiopizzo’s consumer-led anti-extortion model.

  Source

• 2006

  Expand the movement to CataniaStrategy

  Background

  The anti-extortion model was considered applicable beyond Palermo, including in another Sicilian metropolitan area affected by organized-crime influence.

  Action taken

  Addiopizzo Catania was established to discourage pizzo payments, educate residents, and challenge cultural acceptance of Mafia control.

  Aftermath

  The movement gained a second major Sicilian base and later engaged with a European Parliament committee.

  Source

• 2004

  Adopt collective resistance instead of opening a conventional barStrategy

  Background

  The five founders anticipated that a new Palermo bar could be required to pay pizzo.

  Action taken

  They abandoned the immediate business plan and created a public movement using awareness campaigns, ethical consumption, and business solidarity.

  Aftermath

  The decision became the foundation of Addiopizzo’s civic model and its pizzo-free business network.

  Source

• 2012

  Addiopizzo Catania presents its work to a European Parliament organized-crime committee[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Regulation

  A delegation of the European Parliament’s committee on organized crime, corruption, and money laundering invited Addiopizzo Catania to submit an account of its activities.

• 2008

  Punto Pizzofree opens in Palermo[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Product launch

  Addiopizzo helped launch a supermarket designed around the movement’s pizzo-free purchasing principles.

• 2007

  Pizzo-free network reaches hundreds of businesses and thousands of consumers[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Reported membership included approximately 210 traders and entrepreneurs, while more than 9,000 consumers had committed to favoring participating businesses.

• 2006

  Addiopizzo organizes a pizzo-free festival[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Campaign

  The movement held a public festival in Palermo to promote businesses and consumers committed to rejecting extortion payments.

• 2006

  Addiopizzo Catania is established[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  A Catania-based initiative adopted the movement’s anti-extortion, civic-education, and cultural-change objectives.

• 2004

  Addiopizzo launches a public anti-extortion campaign in Palermo[1]Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org

  Campaign

  Five Palermo graduates began organizing after concluding that a prospective bar could be pressured to pay pizzo. Stickers and posters across the city called for collective rejection of Mafia extortion.

1. 1Addiopizzoen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Addiopizzo official websiteaddiopizzo.org