No Mafia Memorial
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A memorial museum in the heart of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, that documents Mafia crimes and especially the fight against the Mafia. The exhibition mostly takes the form of photo collections and text panels. There’s also supposed to be a multimedia exhibition, but that was closed due to “work in progress” at the time of my visit (April 2026).
>Combinations with other dark destinations
More background info: Lots has been written about the Mafia and the fight against it; and there are scores of sources out there that you can consult. Here only the briefest of overviews has to suffice:
With roots in banditry during feudal times, the Sicilian Mafia of Palermo, aka Cosa Nostra, emerged sometime in the 19th century, especially after Sicily was united with Italy in 1862.
Originally, the Mafia offered its services in black market or other underground “business” deals. Two partners in such deals may not trust each other, but at the same time could not rely on the official authorities or the police to protect their interests, of course, so the Mafia was paid “protection money” by both sides and ensured, by threat of violence, that neither partner in the transaction or deal would cheat the other. The fee charged would be lower than the official tax, so it was beneficial to all three sides – though not for the state, as all this was happening in the “underground”.
Over time the Mafia resorted to charging “protection money” not in the context of some deal between two members of the underworld, but from businesses and individuals directly, without a third party being involved. That’s when what was, and often still is, called “protection money” in reality became “extortion money”. The local Sicilian word for that is ‘pizzo’, basically a fee for not being subjected to psychological or physical pressure by the Mafia or even violence, arson or, ultimately, murder.
This form of racketeering expanded into other underworld activities such as illegal gambling, smuggling, loan-sharking and drug trafficking. There were also close ties to Mafia organizations in the USA (especially in Chicago and New York), which had been set up mostly by Sicilian immigrants.
Gradually the Palermo Mafia became so powerful that it infiltrated institutions and politics. The most dramatic effect of this was the so-called “Sack of Palermo” in the 1950s and 60s that perverted city planning and resulted in the demolition of many historic buildings and the construction of shoddy apartment blocks for the growing population.
Different Mafia clans also fought each other in what became known as “Mafia Wars”. Not only were many Mafiosi killed in the shoot-outs but also numerous innocent bystanders.
While cigarette smuggling was for a time a most lucrative activity, the production of and distribution of heroin, especially for the growing drug market in the USA, became a mainstay of Mafia profits in the 1970s.
From the late 1970s and increasingly in the 1980s and 90s, resistance against the power of the Mafia took shape in Palermo (and elsewhere), not just on the part of the authorities, police and the judiciary, but also within other walks of life, e.g. on the part of journalists and writers – see also the Mafia Trail chapter for a few examples.
Key figures in the fight against the Mafia were the judges (and prosecution magistrates) Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Their relentless work paved the way for the biggest ever anti-Mafia trial, called “Maxi Trial”, in the late 1980s. Close to 500 Mafiosi were put on trial in a purpose-built reinforced courthouse, resulting in hundreds of convictions.
However, the Mafia retaliated brutally, in Palermo as well as beyond (such as in Rome or Milan); and in 1992 both Falcone and Borsellino were assassinated by Mafia hitmen by means of powerful car bombs (a classic of Mafia-type killings), alongside scores of other official figures. Even tourist spots came under attack.
These assassinations and attacks caused so much outrage that they in turn boosted the emerging popular anti-Mafia movement from 1992 onwards.
Successive changes in Mafia leadership in the 1990s eventually led to an abandonment of its pursuit of violence and it proclaimed a “Pax Mafiosa” (while carrying on with underground dealings and extorting ‘pizzo’). At the same time the Palermo Cosa Nostra Mafia was weakened. Its drug dealings were largely taken over by the Calabrian Mafia (“Ndrangheta”).
More Mafia bosses were captured and incarcerated from the 2000s, but the Mafia has not gone away. Many businesses still pay ‘pizzo’. It’s also still engaged in drug dealing and other underground activities, but murderous wars and assassinations out in the streets now seem to be largely a thing of the past.
At times, links with the Mafia went all the way to the top, including proven Mafia ties that several-times prime minister Giulio Andreotti had. Later Silvio Berlusconi was alleged to have Mafia contacts at he was setting up his political career.
On the other hand grass-roots organizations formed to fight the Mafia too, especially in the 1990s. One reputable organization that came out of that is called “Addiopizzo” (meaning roughly ‘bye-bye extortion money’). On the one hand, this is an association of shops, restaurants and other businesses which refuse to pay the Mafia. On the other hand, this organization also educates people about the Mafia, e.g. on their three-hour walking tour along what I dubbed the Mafia Trail.
The No Mafia Memorial goes back to the formation of a project that they called “Memorial Laboratory for the Fight Against the Mafia in Palermo”, founded in 1977. It’s also named after Giuseppe Impastato, a former Mafia family member who turned against the Mafia and helped the struggle against it and was murdered by the Mafia in 1979.
It took 25 years to prepare the memorial, and in 2015 the Palazzo Guli right on Via Vittorio Emanuele, the main tourist drag, was identified as the future location of the memorial, which is also supported by the municipal council of Palermo.
The project was officially launched in 2017 by the mayor of Palermo and in 2019 it opened its doors to the public.
One more word about the Mafia and its public perception: The code of conduct, initiation rituals, hierarchical clan structure, family loyalty and the secrecy of the Mafia have at times been somewhat glamorized by movies such as “The Godfather” (but I admit to having never watched the film myself). And indeed you see iconic images of actor Marlon Brando in his role as that clan chief on T-shirts sold at souvenir stalls in Palermo. That’s the more dubious side of Mafia-themed tourism – better stick to this memorial and the No Mafia Tours by Addiopizzo.
What there is to see: When you’ve located the building, before going straight in first take a look at the façade with its many balconies where the walls are decorated with cut-out silhouettes of people engaged in all sorts of activities and play. Above the entrance hangs a rainbow-coloured flag with the name of the memorial on it, which feels a little incongruously cheerful.
Once inside, though, things do get darker. A lot. Along a wall opposite the shop is a large blow-up photo collage showing various significant (murdered) figures of the struggle against the Mafia next to a memorial stone.
The memorial itself is subdivided into a number of thematic sections. The first section I saw was about banditry, which in earlier times was kind of a precursor to the later development of the Mafia. It’s mainly a collection of old black-and-white photos plus simple text panels in Italian and English providing some historical context. (The English translations are OK, although sometimes a bit flawed.)
The photos come with very brief labels, sometimes as minimalistic as “killed bandit”. There are indeed a few gruesome images, also of a killed bandit having his plaster face mask taken. On one wall was a screen playing some black-and-white historic footage about resurfaced bandit gangs in the wake of the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943 (see here). One particular case is picked out, that of one Salvatore Giuliano, who some regarded as a sort of Sicilian Robin Hood. In 1950 he was murdered and the murder scene then tampered with and an alternative scenario “staged”. It got quite detailed at this point.
I’m not sure, but this may have been just a temporary exhibition. But anyway, since it is mostly about the Mafia’s precursors and not yet the Mafia as such, I won’t go into further details here.
You next come to a pretty little courtyard with benches and more cut-out silhouettes on the walls (now in black only).
The next section branching off from the courtyard is entitled “State Funerals” and is mostly about the extremely violent years between 1971 and 1992, when the Mafia killed numerous prosecutors, magistrates, law enforcement officers as well as journalists, writers, etc. – many of the names won’t be familiar to the outside visitor, though those of the judges/magistrates Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, both assassinated through the use of car bombs by the Mafia, quickly become household names once you’re in Palermo (see above and the Mafia Trail).
Also covered here are the “Mafia Wars” between rival clans, as well as a case of miscarriage of justice when a footballer, who was wrongly accused of having committed a Mafia murder, died while under arrest after apparently having been subjected to torture by police officers. It’s never just plain black and white …
Many of the photos on display still are black and white, though, and some are, again, gruesome, especially those showing assassinated victims. But there are also photos of arrests of Mafiosi. Interestingly, at one point in the exhibition there was a sheet on the wall explaining that the photo that used to be displayed here had been removed at the request of the family’s lawyer.
In the centre room is also another video screen, though I can’t remember what was played on it. In addition there’s a large colour photo of Paolo Borsellino’s briefcase, damaged in the car bomb assassination. A little add-on section is about the history of the Palazzo that today’s memorial is housed in.
One more substantial section is about the Mafia and the worldwide drug trafficking operations they are involved in. There are lots of interesting statistics, e.g. that in 1991 the Mafia’s earnings from drug trafficking exceeded the turnover of companies like Exxon or General Motors. A world map shows the routes that particular drugs take across the globe. Another chart illustrates the internal structure of the Mafia and the levels of both the underworld as well as the “upperworld” (politicians, administrators, bankers and businessmen who the Mafia had associations with through infiltration).
There was supposed to be yet another section upstairs in the form of a digital, immersive, multimedia exhibition aimed specifically at a younger audience. Though the official website claims that this exhibition was inaugurated in 2021, I found the stairs leading up to the upper level roped off, and a sign said there was work in progress ongoing, when I visited in April 2026. So I cannot comment on that part of the memorial (I wasn’t particularly upset to miss out on it – expressions like ‘immersive’ and ‘contemporary and emotional language’ rather put me off).
Heading back out you pass an info desk and shop (selling T-shirts, books, etc.) and also the donation box. Now is the time to use it.
All in all, I’m a bit in two minds about this memorial. On the one hand, it addresses important topics that otherwise are not so accessible and often hidden from view. But on the other hand, I found the mass of photos on the wall bordering on input overload. Some of the texts too, where they get especially detailed, are a bit off balance. And overall there’s a distinctive lack of any authentic artefacts. It’s really almost 100% a photo-and-text exhibition and thus feels a bit limited and old-fashioned (but then again I wasn’t able to see their take on an immersive multimedia exhibition ...). I had wished for a little more than that.
Location: Inside Palazzo Guli in the very centre of Palermo on the main tourist street Via Vittorio Emanuele, at No. 353.
Google Maps locator: [38.1153, 13.3603]
Access and costs: easy to find and free (but donations welcome).
Details: It’s easy to get to the memorial on foot from more or less anywhere within the city centre given its location on the main tourist drag that is Via Vittorio Emanuele. It’s just steps away to the west from the Quattro Canti centre point of Palermo.
Opening times: daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Admission free (but donations are welcome and as good as expected … I left 10 euros).
Time required: Between half an hour and over two hours, depending on how much of the memorial is open at the time of your visit and how much you are willing to read while there. (I followed my usual approach of taking photos of the text panels and reading them afterwards at home – that way I was in the memorial for little more than 40 minutes.)
Combinations with other dark destinations: If you have the time and inclination for yet more Mafia-related tourism, then head to the Mafia Trail, either going by guided walking tour or independently.
See also under Palermo in general.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: The memorial’s location in the heart of Palermo, right on the main tourist artery Via Vittorio Emanuele, makes it perfect for combinations with most of the key tourist sites of the city. A few of them are literally just a few steps away, such the Quattro Canti intersection with Via Maqueda, or nearby Piazza Pretoria and Piazza Bellini. And the cathedral is only a short walk to the west along Via Vittorio Emanuele. The street is lined with countless tourist shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. It’s right where the touristy action is.
See also under Palermo.
