Located in via Matteo Renato Imbriani 218, in the district of Materdei, the building of l’OPG was originally the psychiatric hospital “S. Eframo “. Declared uninhabitable in the year 2000, it was finally closed only in 2008: the inmates were transferred to an external wing of the prison of Secondigliano-Scampia, while the building was left abandoned and neglected. On the 2nd of March 2015, a heterogeneous group of students, workers, neighborhood residents and militants of the CAU Napoli collective occupied the space and saved it from abandonment, returning it to the city and the neighborhood.
L’OPG stood in the heart of the Materdei district, inside a huge seventeenth-century building that had been a Franciscan convent. The transformation from a religious complex to a “judicial asylum” took place during the 1900s, between 1925 and 1975, and also involved the architecture of the place: the hospital had been transformed into a panoptic penitentiary.
Where oppression, authority and imprisonment reigned, as showed not only by the documents, but also by the testimonies written on the walls of the place. The purpose of the heterogeneous community is the desire to create spaces for sharing, socializing and freedom to help, encourage and unite the people. Because history is always made above all by the peoples and not by the powerful.
What are the activities of l’Ex OPG – Je so’ pazzo?
The activities of the Ex OPG – Je so ’pazzo are heterogeneous and varied. In addition to those of artistic and sporting nature, however, we want to tell you about those that we consider most interesting.
Among these, there are the activities related to health and well-being and, in particular, the popular clinic and the help desks dedicated to care and health for men, women and children. The aim is to oppose the indiscriminate cuts to public health produced by austerity policies, while ensuring this right as a “commons”. Thanks to the contribution of volunteer professionals, it is possible to have assistance or an effective orientation to access to the local public services. In addition, over the last few years, the Ex Opg has also hosted a small popular pharmacy, organized in accordance to the principles of mutualism and sharing.
The People’s Chamber of Labor is instead a legal help desk that helps workers to know and claim their rights, especially when fighting precarious work and exploitation. The People’s Chamber of Labor also supported and helped the workers of Napoli Sotterranea to report the conditions of exploitation and harassment they suffered.
Finally, there is the help desk for migrants which, together with other grassroots and self-organized Neapolitan realities, assists and participates to the struggle of the many immigrants living in Naples and its proximities, which are too often invisible or unwelcome to the eyes of the institutions, or victims of racism and other discriminations.
The Community of l’Ex OPG – Je so’ pazzo uses the following sito web. It is also possible to follow the activities of the space on Facebook and Instagram.
Finally, an important experience born within l’Ex Opg is the political movement of Potere al Popolo.