In 1920, the American Red Cross donated the means to turn a building in Florence’s Oltrarno district – Palazzo Santarelli, in Via della Chiesa 44, 46, 48 and 50 – into a kindergarten and playground for the deprived children of the San Frediano area.
In 2012, real estate dealer Salvatore Leggiero turned the kids out. The place where children used to play and laugh are now silent luxury flats plus a parking lot.
The real estate dealer however sees this as a fairy tale, “from pumpkin to carriage”.