Rogoredo

For years, Milan’s Rogoredo district, in the city’s southeast, was one of Europe’s largest heroin and cocaine markets. In the spring and summer of 2019, activity around the train station and the nearby boschetto (the grove)—where people bought, used, and even camped—became so intense that it drew national media attention. Things changed that autumn, after a series of major police operations. For a few months, dealing continued sporadically, with fewer people, along the disused railway track opposite the grove and under the ring road bridges. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, activity dropped even further. The abandoned farmhouse on Via Orwell, once used for shelter, was demolished. For now, Rogoredo’s problems seem solved, while the plight of people with addiction remains the same: they have simply moved elsewhere, out of sight. Between one lockdown and the next, however, the market began to stir again, and people slowly returned.

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