Two days ago in Sestu, a group of teenagers caused panic by spraying pepper spray at the Corte del Sole shopping center. No one was seriously injured, but the fear and chaos have brought to light a worrying phenomenon: the emergence of child gangs in the Cagliari metropolitan area .
Cagliari-based psychotherapist Luca Pisano, who has been observing the behavior of young people in the city for years, explains this clearly.
According to Pisano, Saturday nights in downtown Cagliari are no longer just about having fun : "Alcohol, marijuana, hashish, cocaine, and recently even ecstasy and ketamine form a predictable and repetitive ritual," he explains. "Young people go out to get drunk and release the individual, family, and social tensions that have built up during the week. All this turns into a spectacle: fights, beatings, use of weapons, displays of power."
It's no longer just a group of friends spending time together . "Today we find ourselves faced with hierarchically structured groups," Pisano emphasizes, "who struggle to assert their identity in the local area, often drawing inspiration from negative figures in trap music or TV series. And not only that: adolescents with migrant backgrounds, seeking social recognition and identity, fit into these patterns, generating even more complex dynamics."
The squares of Cagliari's historic centre , such as Piazza Sant'Eulalia, Via Sicilia, Piazzetta Aramu and the steps of Sant'Anna, are no longer simple meeting places, but have become real spaces of power, where kids between the ages of 12 and 17, often armed with kitchen knives, broken bottles or knuckledusters, define who is in charge and who is submissive.
The Sestu incident, where pepper spray and tension generated panic, is not an isolated case: it fits into this pattern of violent and ritualized behavior. "The problem," Pisano concludes, "is that violence becomes a spectacle and a means of social recognition, and those who don't embrace it risk being excluded or marginalized."
While on the one hand the police have already started targeted checks in nightlife hotspots , on the other hand experts underline that a broader educational and social intervention is needed , which truly accompanies young people out of the spiral of violence and substances.