Like every year, people all across the Mediterranean sea embarked upon harvesting olives, as it has been for more than 7,000 years. Among the hills of the Valle d’Itria, in south Italy, most families have their own olives and pick them around November, before they fall off the branches. Usually by time people get around to do it, summer is long gone, turning the harvest in a cold race against the coming rain.
In many cultures, the beginning of winter is marked with a religious holiday dedicated to light. Northern Europeans have Saint Lucia, Hindus have Diwali, and Jews have Hanukkah, an eight-day festival in which candles are lit every evening to remember a miracle which blessed the rededication of the Beit HaMikdash (the Holy Temple) of Jerusalem, around the year 170 BCE.
One of hundreds of boats used by migrants to cross the Mediterranean sea lies abandoned in the harbour of Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily’s southernmost community. The stretch of sea between the island and north-Africa, known in Arabic as Madiq Qilibiyah (strait of Kelibia), is crossed every year by thousands of migrants on their way to Europe.
Naples, Italy – 16th of November, 2013: Demonstrators take to the streets of Naples to call for an end to environmental devastation of Campania, an Italian region plagued by illegal dumping of toxic waste and disastrous management of garbage disposal.
Scicli, Italy – 15th of October, 2013: Domenico Manzione, the Italian undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior responsible for immigration law, at the funerals for 13 migrants who drowned on the night of the 30th of September in sight of the nearby Sicilian beach of Sampieri.