Milan has become “a city of m… I don’t know how else to express myself. It is becoming a city where there is no human possibility for a different vision,” said Marina Boer, president of the ‘Mothers of Leoncavallo’ association, following the eviction of the historic Leoncavallo social center today.
She described Leoncavallo as a place that “for 50 years has developed and proposed to the city different ways of social relations between people, of producing cultural activities in alternative, low-cost ways.” It was a space, she added, that thought about “how to provide low-cost services and show that it is possible to manage a space like this.” Boer concluded that this reality “bothers those who think this city is fine as it is and should indeed be pushed further in that direction. To those on the side of speculation, it is bothersome that there is someone saying that we are not happy with how things are.”
Calling the early eviction, which was originally scheduled for September 9th, “a blow to the heart,” Boer noted that a delegation from the Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) party had gone to Rome to request it be moved up. “We knew it could happen earlier. We hoped we would make it to September,” she added. Boer stated that the center is a collective that makes decisions collectively and must now hold an assembly.
Regarding a potential relocation, the president confirmed that dialogue with the Milan City Council is theoretically open for a new area on Via San Dionigi. However, the public tender for the space has not yet been published, and the issue of costly necessary renovations remains.
The eviction, according to a statement from the Milan Prefecture, “will also allow for the avoidance of further compensatory actions against the State.” The Prefecture clarified that the operations cleared the building at Via Watteau 7, owned by ‘L’Orologio srl,’ which had been “illegally occupied by the ‘Antifascist Mothers of Leoncavallo Association.'” The property was returned to its owner for securing.
The building had been occupied without legal title since September 1994, and the judicial authority had long since ordered the occupants to vacate. Since 2005, numerous attempts by bailiffs to gain access had been unsuccessful. The Prefecture’s note concluded by revealing that the property company had also pursued damages for losses incurred due to the delayed execution of the eviction order. In a ruling on October 29, 2024, the Milan Court of Appeal ordered the Ministry of the Interior to pay the company €3,309,150 in compensation (€303,915 per year for the last ten years), plus legal expenses and interest.