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Mario Spada
Domus Vacuae

SCARFACE ONCE LIVED HERE
Walter Schiavone, the boss of the Casalesi clan, asked to his architect to build him an exact copy of the villa owned by the Cuban gangster of Miami, Tony Montana, in the movie Scarface. He was so touched by the movie, that he ended up identifying himself with the character played by Al Pacino. The villa was abandoned after police arrested him there in 1996, and for roughly six years no one claimed this property. Walter told his associates that if he couldn’t use the villa, no one else should. So, he demanded that they destroy it as much as possible. He ordered them to spread tyres all around the place and set them on fire. The only thing left was a king's bath tub built in the middle of a living room with a golden lion's face on top of it, from whose mouth water flowed. It had been left as a trace of his power as a builder and as a man of the Camorra.
Things now might be changing direction. AGRORINASCE, the agency in charge of innovation, development, and security in the area, and which brings together the councils of Casapesenna, Casal di Principe, San Cipriano D'Aversa e Villa Litern, has been given the custody of Walter's villa. They immediately entrusted the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Aversa with the project for the restoration of the villa with the intention of it housing the 'Rehabilitative Sports Centre for the disabled'. In the same way Egidio Coppola's villa, not far from here, will become a centre for disadvantaged children waiting for adoption, and will be named after Peppino Diana, the priest killed by Camorra.
Some of those who have repented of their involvement in crime have pointed out that little Walter was one of the financial brains of the sharpest families, and he was able to achieve all its economic potential in concrete terms. The Schiavone family is one of the richest and most powerful in Europe. From 1995 to today, the fortune seized by the Schiavone family directly or by their nominees amounts to over two hundred billion euros The entire confederation of the families of Caserta controls capital of over 30 billions euros, according to the annual documentations produced by the Antimafia.
Entrepreneurship is not a by product of crime, but crime has become the a major tool of entrepreneurship, this is how we should interpret the phenomenon of Camorra power. The Camorrista is an entrepreneur who uses military and criminal power to build the growth of their company.
Roberto Saviano

Mario Spada

Mario Spada, photographer, has been working in the Neapolitan area since 1996. He has collaborated with important Italian agencies such as Grazia Neri, Contrasto and Alinari.

In 2001 he won the "Canon young photographers" award with Neapolitan Ultras reportage and the award of the Savignano Photography Festival "Portfolio in Piazza", with reportage about combat trained pitbulls.
As a stage photographer, he took part in the film shooting "Gomorra" and "Il Giovane Favoloso".
He collaborates with the best Italian and international newspapers, has published for various publishers, and has exhibited in Europe and the United States.
In 2013 he founded the ‘Centro di Fotografia Indipendente’, an association to promote photography in Naples.
In 2016 he exhibited at Maxxi in the project "Extraordinary Visions, L’Italia ci guarda".
In 2017 he exhibited "Once upon a time in Hollywood" in the former villa (now a recovery center for children with motor problems) of the Mafioso crook Walter Schiavone, with a piece made in the same villa in 2005.

He has exhibited with the following artists: Olivo Barbieri, Gabriele Basilico, Letizia Battaglia, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Massimo Berruti, Tommaso Bonaventura, Maurizio Cattelan, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Mario Cresci, Tano D'Amico, Franco Fontana, Giovanni Gastel, Luigi Ghirri, Nan Goldin, Guido Guidi, Jenny Holzer, Armin Linke, Francesco Jodice, Mimmo Jodice, Ugo Mulas, Catherine Opie, Paolo Pellegrin, Ferdinando Scianna, Ahlam Shibli, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Cathrine Yass.  

PALAZZO TRINCI

Opening time
from Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00am/1.00pm - 3.00pm/7.00pm
closed on Monday

Special free opening
Friday October 12, 9.00pm