In the past seven years, more than 750,000 migrants have
crossed the Mediterranean to the Italian island of Sicily.
They risk their lives on the open sea hoping to find safety, work
or a combination of the two here, in one of the poorest regions of Europe.
Saifoudine Diallo is from Guinea in West Africa, and his journey to enter Italy
took him six months and cost more than his life savings.
Now almost two years on and Din - as his friends call him - has just this week
registered his first-ever business in Italy, manufacturing children’s toys.
He lives with a group of other migrants in a converted hospital on the city’s outskirts.
A government permit means he has a home and the right to work legally - at least for now.
His is a rare success story that came in large part thanks to his immigration lawyer,
and now friend, Roberto Carmina.
The debate over migrants has polarized society not just in Sicily,
but right across Italy, upending decades of traditional political positions.
Lega Nord is a party originally founded to win independence for northern Italy,
but it's now campaigning aggressively for votes in the deep south.
That includes Sicily, where Sabina Bonelli is one of its parliamentary candidates.
To its political opponents, the party now known as Lega,
has long been the public face of Italian racism,
with its latest campaign promise the deportation of half a million migrants.
But alongside its center-right coalition partners - including Silvio Berlusconi -
it may have the best chance of winning
an absolute majority in this weekend's national vote.
The mayor of this city on the frontline of European migration
does not welcome Lega’s attitude.
Leoluca Orlando earned his reputation as a mayor for forcing the mafia out of Palermo,
and now he's testing his popularity by inviting migrants in.
And whichever views or policies prevail on Sunday,
it's unlikely that the tide of humanity we've seen traveling across the sea to Italy
is going to end anytime soon.
Since the start of January, more than 200 people have
followed Din’s journey from Guinea to Sicily.
As he adapts to life in Italy,
Din hopes the debate around immigration will start to change.