Fighting Sicilian Corruption, One Vine at a Time

Abstract

For the last decade, Libera Terra has been operating in Italy as a cooperative that turns land once used by the mafia into organic farms and undulating vineyards. Lemons, lentils, chickpeas, grapes—the land is as stunningly beautiful as it is heavy with history. The cooperative aims to make products that people buy not just for their stories but for their quality; provide workers with fair wages and respect; improve the daunting unemployment rate in Sicily, particularly among youth; and undo decades worth of systemic corruption. In 1996, the Italian government passed a law allowing land formerly used by the Mafia to be taken over by social cooperatives like Libera Terra. Centopassi is a winery under the umbrella of the Libera Terra cooperative. Self-described as “an attempt to produce high-quality wines as a way to give new dignity to lands and people that deserve a better future,” the wine label takes its name from the 2000 film of the same name, meaning “One Hundred Steps,” about the life of Giuseppe “Peppino” Impastato, an anti-Mafia activist who was killed in 1976.