Of all the ways to fight the Mafia, having pasta for dinner isn't usually one of them. But now, that's exactly what Italians can do to help beat organized crime.
A shop in central Rome is offering an array of ''anti-Mafia'' food -- including pasta, wine, olive oil, chick peas, and tomato sauce -- all produced on land recently seized from the Sicilian Mafia and handed over to farmers.
''We have transformed the fight against the Mafia,'' said Antonio Dell'Olio, an anti-Mafia activist who helps promote the shop's goods. ''I can eat anti-Mafia. Anti-Mafia is in my own life.''
Italian law allows authorities to assign property confiscated from organized crime groups to cooperatives, social workers, and volunteers.
In the Sicilian capital of Palermo, a consortium called Libera Terra, or ''Free Land,'' turned agricultural fields formerly devoted to illegal activities into a profitable and legal business.
The label on the food produced there even advertises ''the lawful taste of Sicily.''....>>
