n 1986, when Gaddafi launched missiles from Libya toward Lampedusa, they fell into the sea just one mile from the coast. For a brief moment, there was real fear that the island and its inhabitants were in danger. The people of Lampedusa began to wonder what that attack might mean for their future. Fortunately, nothing escalated, and life soon returned to normal. The residents of the island, of Sicily, and of Italy as a whole could sleep soundly again, as common sense prevailed over the warmongering instincts of a few.
Paradoxically, that moment of geopolitical tension brought Lampedusa unprecedented visibility. The media attention generated by the missile incident put the largest of the Pelagie Islands in the spotlight, and tourism numbers soon surged in a boom that has never really stopped. The increase in visitors has coincided with another, very different phenomenon: the arrival of people fleeing intolerable situations in their home countries.
