Words and photographs by Simone Carolei
"Castel Volturno is a 72-square-kilometer area scattered with abandoned buildings and garbage. In this strip of land in the province of Caserta, half the population is Black, most of Nigerian origin. The second-generation children of their parents’ homeland have little. Born in Italy, they speak Neapolitan and gesture in that uniquely Southern way.
Black Basket Castel Volturno tells the story of a dream born on a small basketball court along the Domitian Way, made real by Massimo Antonelli, a former basketball star. He founded Tam Tam Basket—a team, a sports project, and a social initiative—in a place both difficult and beautiful.
In a land where hope seems to have vanished, passion finds fertile ground. A tiny seed, once planted, can give rise to a new generation—revolutionary and magnetic. Dreams and hopes weave together with daily life, and rage takes on a new form, becoming clean energy. The kind that charges the rundown courts near the beaches of Villaggio Coppola, beneath a worn hoop without a net, among the shouts and sweat of young people with skin scorched by the sun.
Sabrina Efionayi
(From the preface to Black Basket Castel Volturno – ContrastoBooks)
You can’t tell the story of Castel Volturno if you haven’t lived it.
You can’t seek it if you don’t know it.
And you can’t leave it until you’ve understood how to stay.
Sabrina Efionayi
(From the preface to Black Basket Castel Volturno – ContrastoBooks)
Simone Carolei, journalist and photographer, has been a correspondent for various RAI and La7 television programs. He has worked extensively on migration and the plight of refugees. Part of his work on the Tibetan diaspora was presented at the FotoGrafia International Festival of Rome.
