Castel Volturno is an area of 72 square kilometers scattered with abandoned buildings and rubbish. In this strip of land in the province of Caserta, half the population is black, mainly of Nigerian origin. The second generation of children have little of the land of their fathers. Born in Italy, they speak Neapolitan, gesticulating as only we in the South know how.
Black Basket Castel Volturno is the story of a dream born on a basketball field along the Via Domitiana, turned into reality thanks to Massimo Antonelli, a former basketball star. He is the one who created, in a difficult and at the same time wonderful place, Tam Tam Basket: a team, a sports and social project.
I had the privilege to pass a lot of time with him, the coach, and with the kids. Blessing, Promise, Destiny, King, Karim. I followed them on the field, in their homes. During their trainings, their matches and their long days on the Domitian Coast.
The kids’ parents have difficult stories, Massimo tells us, “tough stories that we can’t even begin to imagine. And yet what strikes me is that the mothers have given them beautiful names, names of hope: promise, destiny, miracle. I’ve always thought it was a wish for their children, so they might have a different fate from that which fell to them.”