ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some incidents surrounding roughly 150 squatters of Palazzo Bernini that consisted of Roma and Bulgarian migrant communities and a radical collective called Aleph. In December 2012, one of the apartment blocks of Palazzo Bernini was squatted by some extended Roma families who previously lived in a Roma camp near Catania's airport. This group decided to relocate because of the sordid living conditions at the camp and the fear of imminent eviction. Along with the Roma communities, a small group of North African migrants and natives Catanese squatted another block of apartments at the Palazzo. When the negative public opinion started building against the Bernini's squatters, the Aleph activists were the voice for the Roma and Bulgarians squatters to avoid eviction of families without any operative housing alternative for them. Activists organized several meetings, trying to involve the entire Bernini's squatters to represent the increase in allegations from the neighborhood and its possible outcomes.
