The sea is blue, the parasols are yellow, and Gasparino Norelli's skin is brown like leather. Wearing bathing trunks and flip-flops, this beach attendant from Lampedusa hands us a brochure extolling the virtues of his seaside establishment on Guitgia beach. Entertainment and relaxation are guaranteed, promises the guide. How could they not be given the beauty of this limestone rock in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Lying closer to Tunisia than to Sicily, Lampedusa was a stopover once shared by Arab and European navigators. A former colony of the Kingdom of Naples, in 1986 the island narrowly missed oblivion when a missile strike from Gaddafi's Libya fell short of its target. Since the Arab Springs of 2011, this island that sits between two worlds has above all become a symbol of undocumented migration. At the same time as serving as a stopover for migrants ready to risk death to reach this piece of Europe on the African continental plate, its turquoise waters have attracted ever-increasing numbers of tourists, their curiosity piqued by this place that makes the front page in the event of shipwrecks.

From Gasparino's deckchairs, holidaymakers have a view of the boats transporting shipwrecked people to the breakwater. But they will see neither the disembarkation nor the transfer by bus to a detention center buried inland. Instead, Gasparino's brochure refers to an extraordinary welcome and solidarity, in an atmosphere of inclusion. How many tourists has this drawn in? An estimated 250,000 a year, for just over 6,000 inhabitants, in an area of just 20 square kilometers. "We are the most welcoming people in the history of mankind," said Filippo Pucillo. One of Gasparino's employees, this child of Lampedusa has appeared in four films by Emanuele Crialese, including Terraferma (2011), the story of an African woman stranded on an island overrun by tourists.

During filming, a fixer, Giuseppe Del Volgo, lent them a hand, just as he assisted documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi when he came to film the daily life of inhabitants in the lap of a killer sea for 2016's Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea). "All in all, the migration aspect is well under control," said a satisfied Del Volgo, who welcomed us to his bed and breakfast.

The island that is a stage

The concentration of law enforcement officers, humanitarian aid workers, migrants and journalists in one tiny place has produced what sociologist Paolo Cuttita has called the border spectacle. "Lampedusa makes it possible to stage two complementary narratives, that of repression and that of welcome," he said. Pope Francis has defended migrants there, far-right leader Matteo Salvini has fought a supposed migratory invasion, populist Giorgia Meloni has dragged European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen there, and Silvio Berlusconi, when he was prime minister, even acquired a villa there, in 2011. With its flat landscape, the island is a stage, and in this show there are good guys and bad guys.

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