Canicattini Bagni - In the green hills of southeastern Sicily, the Don Bosco Oasis hotel is turning tourists away this season.
Instead, it has taken in 112 African migrants, survivors of the kind of risky, clandestine crossing of the Mediterranean which has cost at least 900 people their lives this year alone.
Across southern Italy, where the bulk of migrants seeking a better life first set foot in Europe, an unprecedented influx has filled the usual processing centres.
The interior ministry has had to turn to hotels and other residential structures to take them in.
For 29 Euros ($31) per person per day, the hotel Oasis Don Bosco responded to the call and prepared its rooms for the influx: each has three beds and a bathroom, with a small balcony.
Construction has begun to expand the hotel's capacity to 200 beds.
The premises include a big recreation hall, a little classroom for Italian lessons and a football pitch.
For security reasons the huge pool has been fenced off and will be drained.
The latest batch of migrants, who arrived late Thursday in the nearby port of Augusta, spent their first night in Europe in tents.
"Hi, I'm Ciccio," says Francesco Magnano, the director of the centre. "I'm here to give you dignity, something to drink and eat, a bed to sleep in, and honour."
Then he does the roll call, cheerfully mispronouncing all the names.
AFP
