Violins made from battered migrant boats feature at Milan's La Scala theatre

Inmates at Milan's largest prison have given new life to the remnants of Europe's deadly migrant crisis.

Transcript

00:00 These are battered migrant boats, the wreckage of Europe`s migration crisis.

00:08 But inmates in Milan`s largest prison are giving new life to these boats by using the

00:13 wood to make violins, violas and cellos.

00:16 Metamorphosis is a rehabilitation project for detainees, but also pays tribute to the

00:22 thousands who lose their lives trying to reach Europe.

00:25 "This project was born from a question. The question is, why them and not me? Why were

00:31 those people, those children on that boat and not my son? When I saw those children

00:36 getting off the boat in Lampedusa, I knew that those boats were destroyed by the government

00:41 as special refuges. Then I thought, why can't they become a living memory? And remind everyone

00:48 of this drama that could have been mine or my son, because if we were born there, it

00:52 was us."

00:53 The instruments were used at the debut performance of the iconic "Orchestra of the Seas" in Milan`s

00:59 famed Teatro alla Scala.

01:02 They represent the more than 22,800 migrants who, according to the UN, have lost their

01:08 lives on the deadly Mediterranean migrant route since 2014.

01:13 (whooshing)