Inside Italian Gypsy camps

Miriana Djeordsevic, holds up a picture of her daughter Violeta, 11, who drowned along with her sister Christina , 13, last month. She lives at a Roma camp in Naples. Shortly before the girls died they gave their fingerprints to the authorities, part of a new initiative being led by interior minister, Roberto Marroni, to fingerprint every member of the Roma minority Photograph: Robin Hammond/guardian.co.uk

A family photograph of the girls taken at their camp, Violeta is second on the left, wearing the floral patterned skirt and Cristina wears the black dress Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

The bodies of the two Roma girls lie on the beach after drowning in the sea in Torregaveta, near Naples on July 19 2008. The ambulance did not arrive for three hours, so they were covered up and beach-goers continued their picnic Photograph: STR/AFP

A Roma family have a picnic on a Sunday afternoon outside Pisa. (L-R) Father Elvis, 29, Melissa, 6, Dagistan, 4, Semran, 9, with their mother Sebaet, 30, and eldest daughter Nazli, 11 Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Olga Jevrenovic, 60, with her grandaughters, Sabrina, 4, and Samanta, 14, in illegal Roma camp Scampia under a motorway in Naples Photograph: Robin Hammond/guardian.co.uk

Young Roma children play at the legal camp Maglina in Rome. Critics claim legal camps become ghettos where Roma are further marginalised Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Romanian Roma shack shared by several families, Rome Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

An illegal Roma camp seven miles outside of Pisa. The camp is made up mostly of Roma from Bosnia and Kosovo Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

A young Roma girl in her home in the camp in Pisa Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Roma from different parts of Europe live in Camo Nomadi Aurelia in Rome, this section is where families from Montenegro live next to a motorway Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Many Roma survive by selling scrap metal, washing car windshields, begging or performing Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

A man walks by an anti-racism poster in Naples. The poster is campaigning against the fingerprinting regime that has been recently established this year for Roma Gypsies in Italy Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Lawyer Francesca Saudino campaigns with NGO Observatorio for Roma rights. She is photographed in Naples, Italy Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

A former Roma camp that was burned to the ground in July this year after being evacuated. The culprits are suspected to want the land to construct apartments – this is a regular occurrence Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Roma man begs in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Illegal Roma camp Scampia which has been built under a motorway in Naples, Italy. Scampia is in the north of the region and is widely known for its many social problems, including high crime rates, low unemployment and drug trafficking Photograph: Robin Hammond/guardian.co.uk

Young Roma children, who are growing up in the Scampia camp Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

Roma Gypsies living in an illegal Roma camp seven miles outside Pisa Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

This Romanian Roma family arrived in Rome four years ago and have always lived in illegal camps, three of the previous camps they lived at were destroyed by police. They live in cramped and uncomfortable conditions as they all sleep in the same room. (L-R) Chiki-Chan, 16, his mother Sidonia, his father Dolar, and Esmeralda, 9 Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond

A memorial to Violeta and Cristina made by friends and family near where the sisters died on Torregaveta beach in Naples. According to a recent newspaper survey, more than two-thirds of Italians want Gypsies expelled, whether they hold Italian passports or not Photograph: Robin Hammond/Robin Hammond