Bici Palermo Tuning – a group of teenagers from the Sicilian capital Palermo – spend anything up to €1,300 customising their bikes with car batteries and multiple speakers to develop thunderous sound systems. The police are not impressed. Here: The competition to build the most thunderous sound system is fierce. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





Some spend up to €1,300 (£1,150) customising their bikes. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





The music they play depends on personal taste, but many choose neo-melodico, a genre from southern Italy that merges contemporary lyrics with traditional melodies. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





They often gather in the square outside Brancaccio mall. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





Some of the sound systems put out 1,250 watts and can shake the windows of shops and cars as the group rides past. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





The teenagers of Bici Palermo Tuning say their weekly gatherings are often interrupted by the police. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





The police threaten to confiscate their sound systems. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





The group may be persuaded to disperse, but a short while later will have reconvened on the other side of the city. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)





“No one puts up with us, so what do we do?“ says one. “Let’s raise the volume”. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)