Laura Marmorale

President

Social worker, member of the Naples Land Crew of Mediterranea Saving Humans.
Originally from Benevento, she has been living in Naples for almost 15 years, fully engaged in Italy's social movements of the past two decades: with the coordination of the Campania centri sociali first and in the Disobedient Movement.
Committed to anti-racist movements, she also follows, through her work, the growth and transformation of migration flows. Between 2016 and 2019 she served first as a municipal alderperson and then as a city councilor of the City of Naples.
Since late 2020, she has joined Mediterranea Saving Humans and participated as a mission leader in the first Safe Passage Mission in Ukraine and the Med Care mission.

Vanessa Guidi

Vice President

Medical doctor specialising in Emergency Medicine, has been active with Mediterranea since 2019.She was President of Mediterranea from 2020 to early 2023.
Guidi coordinates the medical team and has participated in missions at sea as the ship’s doctor.
She has found her own port of safety in Mediterranea, as she believes in freedom of movement for all and considers it crucial to denounce human rights violations at the borders of Fortress Europe.
She chose to work in urgent care because it is a practice that is open to all and welcomes anyone in need. Likewise, Mediterranea makes no distinctions and guarantees a place on board the Mare Jonio to anyone seeking it, and a safe port of disembarkation.

Stefania Porchia

Vice President and Treasurer

Has been a member of Mediterranea's Venice Land Crew since its inception.
She has a degree in statistics and is involved in supporting public and private organisations doing community work by supporting them in research, evaluation, training and development.
In the last two years, she has actively participated in the Fundraising group, providing support to the treasury in processing data and making it available and clear. She has always been involved in movements and organisations concerned with social justice and rights for all, for a fair, dignified, free, anti-fascist and anti-racist society.

Leon Blanchaert

Has been an activist from a very young age. Among the countless struggles he has participated in, his first were for better schools and against wars.
He was deeply marked by anti-racist battles, most significantly that of Abba Abdoul Guiebre, a young boy killed because he was black. He has also been involved in the right to housing and emancipation movements.
He loves books, graduated in History and Economics and would like to never stop studying.
He has two sons, Andrea and Teo, with his partner Patrizia.

Debora Camarda

Born and raised in Sicily, she worked for many years in social services and organised cultural events. She also did anti-mafia activism through several organisations.
At the age of 27, she moved to the UK and was part of a group of volunteers from Cambridge who worked in the Calais refugee camp (France), trying to mitigate the stark differences with which Europe treats human beings according to their origin.
In 2019, she moved to Spain and joined the Barcelona Land Crew.
She was in charge of the Steering Council of Mediterranea and is now part of the Land Crews Coordination Group.

Luca Casarini

He has two children and lives in Palermo.
An activist from a young age, he trained in the social centres in the North-east of Italy, where he agitated for over 30 years.
He attended the Faculty of Political Science in Padua during the 'Panther' protest and took part in the struggles against nuclear power and the Cruise missiles at Comiso.
From the Zapatista march to the mobilisation against the WTO and the G8 in Genoa, he has been critical of neo-liberal globalisation, standing with the major movements of the late 1990s and early 2000’s.
He is one of the founders of Mediterranea and Head of Missions on board Mare Jonio since 2018.

Denny Castiglione

Aldo Ciani

Born in Rome in 1967, a city he loves, where he lives and works. He is married and has a son.
Since a young age ‘on the side of the last’, when he joined Mediterranea Saving Humans in April 2021, he felt it was an act of necessary solidarity.
Passionate about the world, particularly French-speaking Africa, which he has visited on several occasions, he believes that freedom of movement is a universal right and not the privilege of those living in the global north.
Passionate about humanity, he believes in the value of every life, and therefore claims the necessity and legitimacy of every rescue action, on land and at sea.
In November 2024, he was elected to Mediterranea's Executive Board.

Fabio Gianfrancesco

Born in Rome, activist and university researcher in Philosophy.
In his years as an activist he has learned not to submit to the cynicism of neoliberal morality but to experiment instead with different forms of solidarity.
In 2018, with the criminalisation of those who wanted to fight together with those who were forced to migrate, he decided together with the Roman social enter ESC and others to help establish Mediterranea.
Since 2018, he has been a member of the Rescue Team and is active in various missions. He coordinates the Rome Land Crew.

Ibrahima Lo

Riccardo Mattone Fantini

Born in 1997 in Turin. He has a Degree in Protection of Human Rights and International Cooperation from the University of Bologna.
A Mediterranea activist since 2020, he helped create the Turin Land Crew. He is the Head of the Communication group and is active in the organisation of 'A Bordo!' — Mediterranea's festival.
Linked to the Susa Valley for political and family reasons, he is active with the Turin Land Crew in supporting migrants on the French-Italian Alpine border.
He is deeply engaged with cross-border cultures, but believes that a better world is built only by breaking down borders.
In September 2022, he was elected to Mediterranea's Executive Board.

Sheila Melosu

Alessandro Metz

Serena Sardi

A procrastinator since 1981, she was part of The Feminist Library collective in London as well as Ladyfest London.
Since has been part of Mediterranea Barcelona since 2019.

Eleonora Stano

Born and raised in 1994 in Matera, since 2020 she has chosen Bologna as her home and place to weave paths of commitment and solidarity. With a legal background, she joined MSH to actively oppose a system and a narrative that criminalise people's freedom of movement. Being part of Mediterranea means embarking on a human and political journey alongside those who fight to assert their rights, claiming a present and a future without borders or forms of exclusion and discrimination.