"Mafia Tour" in Corleone, Sicily

I haven't done this tour, but I heard about something similar in Palermo. The thing is, I don't like tours like this because it makes it sound like the Mafia is something made up, or that it doesn't exist anymore. Except that it does, especially in places like Corleone where the Mafia is alive and well. Whoever had this brilliant idea to take tourists on these Mafia tours was certainly clever because for many people outside of Italy organized crime is something that we only see in movies, bosses battling it out for supremacy. However there is nothing glamorous about the hundreds of innocent civilians, police officers, and judges who were killed for getting in their way, and when you are in Palermo you will see plaque after plaque on walls and in piazzas honoring those who were killed. It is mind boggling and also extremely sad. I don't know who gives the tours or where the money goes, but out of principle, I wouldn't go.

Last fall we drove out of our way to Corleone to visit the Mafia Museum. After driving round and round the town, following signs for the museum -- but never finding the museum -- we decided it was not worth it, and took off for our next destination. The town of Corleone was certainly not worth the trip.

WOW - well I cannot imagine any Italians going on this tour... The Mafia is not something people here even joke about! We had American visitors in town who have "relatives" in Sicily and the 15-year old daughter continually referred to her "connections." Scared our elderly Italian waiter to death... and this is a place I eat at often.

After talking with people here, I could not see myself on that tour either. The Mafia is a force in Italy, be it in politics, land ownership, etc. Just ask people about the Naples garbage issues and why that's not yet resolved...

I guess Claire and I will sit this one out. I can't support their position or practices, nor choose to see anything that glorifies it. It's just too real for people here... and too current. Yes, bad things happened at the Colosseum, but they aren't happening there today!

Ciao,
Ron

Just to help make our point, and find out how you can help ANTI mafia businesses when you are in Palermo, read this story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/may/17/sicily.italy

I agree. Celebrating the Mafia in Italy is horrible.

The Godfather was fiction.

I have been to the Mafia Museum. Not as a tour. I was glad I visit Corleone and the Museum. Is a beautiful town. Was very interesting. I went with a opened mind. Not one with full of images of the Godfather from Hollywood.

http://my-travel-photo-blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/sicily.html

I'm a bit of a mafia buff, plan on going to all the sites I can related to the subject. Not to glorify but to better understand a subject I'm interested in. It's true, these guys are animals, especially the Italian version (Toto Reinna was a vicious sob).

Yeah, the Godfather story itself was fiction but many parts and the overall story/concept was taken from real life, just romanticized and that's where alot of people take away that the mob is cool which is far from the truth.

Giovanni Falcone and the many others who tried to rid Italy of the mafia are the ones who should be celebrated.

Ron

We did go to Corleone 2 years ago as my grandfather was born there. We had intended to rent a car and drive ourselves from Palermo but ended up hiring a taxi to take us there and sort of act as our "guide". It was a very small town - we visited the church, the Mafia Museum, and, of course, the city offices where I got copies of birth and marriage certificates.

The Mafia Museum was a few rooms housed inside another building. We were the only ones on the "tour" of the museum which meant we got to ask specific questions and talk with the person who showed us pictures, etc. We did find this all very interesting but probably mostly because my family is from there and also my husband had done quite a bit of reading (non-Godfather books) about the mafia before our trip.

It is hard to say if it would be worth the extra time and money - it definitely took MUCH longer to get there than I thought it would - it would depend on the reasons you are interested in Corleone. It was definitely a special part of our family trip.

I realize that these comments are 2 years old, but whenever I find comments on the Internet that are so far from correct I must reply. Doug said, "I agree. Celebrating the Mafia in Italy is horrible."
First, the Mafia Museum is not a celebration. There are no ferris wheels to ride or roller coasters. It is a museum plain and simple. Do you also find the Holocaust Museum in Washington a horrible celebration? I hope not, as they both exist to educate people about what the real Mafia was about.
The Mafia or "Black Hand" in Sicily went about to actually help the people during the fascist regime. This would have started in 1922 and escalate through World War II when Mussolini was in power. The fascists would come into a village and with a show of force and brutality claim all the land and all the possessions property of the Fascist Government. And if there were any young women in the village, they too would become property of the Fascists for as long as it took to rape them.
Imagine losing all your possessions and land that has been in your family for generations to a bunch of thugs in an instant. The Sicilians banded together and formed the "Black Hand" which represented the fact that most attacks against the Fascists were carried out in the black of night. Much of the killing was done with knives which began the unfortunate stereotype of all Italians carrying a knife. Guns were sparse and knives were quiet.
To make a very long story and history short, it wasn't until certain Italian immigrants in America took their power with them and began to terrorize the same people that had been helped in Sicily. Money and greed fueled the cancer that we know today as the Mafia.
The movies only show what a paying audience will want to see. Talk about a stretch of the truth! It's just like the Western movies. I never knew that there was never a tradition of a gunfight in the street where two men paced off and turned and fired. But we believe what we see in the movies.

Sorry, but there is one more response to a 2 year old comment by Ron.
Ron says, "the 15-year old daughter continually referred to her "connections." "

If you have to say you have connections, then you don't. I learned at a very young age that if someone spoke of all the money he has, he is probably broke.

Those in Italy and America who were connected didn't have to announce it. Especially in Italy were everyone knows everyones business. Matter of fact, it wasn't especially intelligent to announce it as the police and various government agencies were always interested in finding anyone who had a big mouth.

Visiting the "Anti-Mafia Museum and Documentation Center" is a principled way to help. This museum does not glorify the Mafia. It's a tribute to the prosecutor who lost his life and the ultimate success of his case. The guides who show you these exhibits are putting themselves out to keep this information alive, and you can show them your support by visiting the museum. I found it exciting to hear about history directly from the participants. Patronize Sicilian businesses that refuse to pay off the Mafia. Here's a list: http://www.addiopizzo.org/pizzofree_alfa.asp And here's an explanation of the effort in English
http://www.addiopizzo.org/english.asp