In Milan the Leoncavallo: it is one of the most important and historical social centers of the Lombard capital, which has become a place of social and cultural aggregation for different generations of young people.
The operation was carried out yesterday morning, Thursday 21 August: the eviction order of the occupied building had been requested by the property in 2003, but had been postponed 103 times. Although the headquarters were busy, the news aroused several criticism from the citizenship and the mayor Giuseppe Salawhich underlined “the historical and social value” that Leoncavallo is of Milan.
The space, located in via Watteau, had in fact become a popular symbol of the city And it housed various cultural activities, including a screen printing laboratory, an area for independent video game developers, a popular Italian school and a theatrical laboratory.
In an X post, the Minister of the Interior Matteo planted Instead, he underlined how the eviction was necessary to restore a situation of legality, given that the property had been illegally occupied. So let’s see the history of Leoncavallo and what are the other possible locations of the social center on which they are discussing.
The history of the Leoncavallo social center
The history of Leoncavallo dates back to 1975when a disused area of about 3,500 square meters (located right in via Leoncavallo, in Milan), it was occupied by a group of extra -parliamentary militants who had participated in the 1968 revolutionary movement. From the start, several cultural initiatives dedicated to citizens were organized inside, including one popular school to allow workers to obtain the license of middle schools. In those years, in fact, several social centers arose in Milan, especially in the suburbs, where it was often necessary to face the absence of services for the inhabitants, from nurseries to popular canteens and gynecological consultants.
In the 1978 The social center became famous throughout Italy following the murder of Fausto Tinelli And Lorenzo “Iaio” Iannuccitwo young Leoncavallo militants engaged in an investigation into the spread of heroin in the neighborhood. The reaction of citizenship was important: on the funeral day the factories strike and one hundred thousand people went to Piazza Duomo to protest. The mothers of Fausto and Iaio, together with other women of the social center, then gave birth to the group “Mothers of Leoncavallo“, working in the fight against heroin.
In the 1994then, the original headquarters was cleared, after several years of clashes: the social center temporarily moved to a headquarters in via Salomone, to the Southeast of Milan (also clearly cleared), and then moved definitively to via Watteau, to Milan Nord, where it remained until the eviction of August 21.
The socio-cultural value of Leoncavallo for Milan
But then, why has this eviction arouse so many criticism from the population? The answer lies above all in socio-cultural value That Leoncavallo had acquired over the years: the new headquarters, in fact, hosted various cultural activities, from the serigraphy laborerio, to the space for independent video game developers, to a popular Italian school and a theatrical laboratory. At the same time, the headquarters of Public meetings and debates on different social issues, as well as of fairs dedicated to food and music.
The Leoncavallo, among other things, had acquired even more importance for the population after, in 2021, another social center had been closed in the East area of Milan, known as Macaum. In short, he had become a place of Meeting for the populationwhere you can attend cultural events free of charge and inclusive for everyone.
The current situation and the hypothesis on the transfer of the Social Center
At the moment, The situation is still uncertain: After 31 years of employment and 103 attempts at evacuation, the social center has been officially evicted. In the meantime, however, the Municipality of Milan has launched a dialogue with the Leoncavallo anti -fascist mothers association, with the aim of identifying another location for the social center, so that they return to operate in the middle of legality. For some time rumors have been circulating on the possible transfer to a building in Milan South, in the neighborhood of Corvetbut this hypothesis has not yet been officially confirmed.
