In the late 1970s and until the early 1990s, parts of Ladispoli served as refugee camps for Soviet emigrants seeking political and/or religious asylum in Western countries (mostly United States, Canada and Australia). The experience of Jews from the former USSR staying in Ladispoli in the 1980s was first described in English by Maxim D. Shrayer in his literary memoir "Waiting for America" (2007).[3]