Naples Buried Under a Heap of Trash
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.12.07
If you've been planning on taking a trip to Italy this summer with the intent of visiting Naples, you may want to reconsider the length of your sojourn there: the U.S. Embassy in Rome has just issued the following warning to Americans traveling to the city and its surrounding areas:
''U.S. citizens traveling to or through the area may encounter mounds of garbage, open fires with potentially toxic fumes, and/or sporadic public demonstrations by local residents attempting to block access to dumps.''
While Naples has often had difficulties dealing with overflowing landfills and people dumping trash on the streets, the situation has gradually worsened over the last few years and reached a crisis point in May when collectors stopped picking up the garbage, simply because there was nowhere left to put it. As a result, residents took matters into their own hands and started burning hundreds of piles of trash, releasing a cocktail of potentially toxic vapors.
To make things worse, communities around the city actually resisted efforts to build new dumps or storage sites by blocking railways and organizing protests. While the situation has slightly improved since May, the southern region of the city, Campania, remains plagued with piles of trash strewn about the streets.
Perhaps fearful of the loss of tourism and bad publicity the U.S. Embassy warning would engender, officials in the city staged loud protests, arguing that Campania's streets and town were clean and that there were no discernible health risks. ''Any kind of alarmism is baseless and founded only on emotions, amplified by the international media,'' said Rosa Russo Iervolino, the city's mayor.
As the New York Times' Mike Nizza noted, a long-term solution, which would have to involve recycling, more incinerators and more dumps at the very least, will be difficult to reach given the residents' vehement disapproval of any move taken to clean up the situation. Visit at your own risk!
Via ::GLOBOsapiens: The Shame of Naples (travel website), ::The Lede: U.S. Says Naples Has Spoiled (blog), ::AP: US Warning on Naples Garbage Crisis (news website)
See also: ::DIY: Reclaiming Trash to Make Books, ::Trash Contest Inspires Kids to Spread the Green Word, ::Haute Trash: Fashion from Rubbish
Natural gas prices are very high in the EU and with Russia threatening a shut off, incineration is increasingly un-affordable. Not too much open land in the countryside either (as the story indicates). Massive introduction of returnable, re-usable packaging and recycling of the remainder, plus composting the organics, take a social consensus and an organized government to produce results. How do you say Blade Runner in Italian?
why would the residents block efforts to actually clean up the city? o_O
I was there last summer at this time for about 3 weeks. I remember garbage piling up all over. Huge, huge piles. Shortly before we (my wife and I) left, the garbage collectors started picking up the piles and cleaning up the areas they had been.
"collectors stopped picking up the garbage, simply because there was nowhere left to put it". That's great!!!!!! I cannot believe it!! Would be now, in the end, when northamerican people will realize that everything is NOT supposed to be in a plastic bag?!?! I hope so... Earth would be glad of them.
I have lived in Naples for about five months now, and let's not kid ourselves the conditions are not Healthy in any sence of the word, the Mayor of Naples is lying to herself and her own country. It is just that simple this place has a big problem, not just the driving, no one wants to take hold of it, no one wants it in their back yard, so where do you put it? mean while most peoples eye's are burning and itching from the burning trash, and yet the heat still rises, and so does the toxic air quality. I don't know what the answer is to Naples problem, and neither does anyother one person. As long as people stay in Naples and say "that's just the way it is" the buck will pass from generation to generation alass we are here, breathing toxic air but still buying those tickets to Rome. If you thought twice before doing that, they would have no choice but to react, so in effect we are feeding the monster, and this monster is growing, and it will get off this boot to the rest of us Unless a collective decides what needs to be done, then this space is not worth yours or my time, if I understood correct, the American Embassy had to open the Italian Governments eyes to the fact that, Tourism is at state here, so they get a few folks together to make it look like their doing something. If we keep going to hell and there was no ice water then, yet you keep going back to hell, do you think the water will just show up now? I didn't think so, Our chidrens futures are at stake here and for what I've seen they care about their Childrens and childrens future, or do they?
I live in a town about 30 minutes from Naples in the Campania region and the trash is horrible - on some streets it is piled as high as the car. It is true the people set fire to the trash which contain everything including tires, paint, oil, etc... My husband is with the military so we are here for a few more years. I have to say the liberals might complain about Americans ruining the environment with our SUV's..., but aside from Japan we are more eco-friendly than so many other countries and the region of Campagnia is doing far more damage to the environment in one day of burning trash - than America does in a month of driving our SUVs. They just arrested 9 people for throwing all this trash into fields and rivers for 2 years. At times they burn so much that you can't even see the road because you are driving through black smoke for 100 yards - this would be on the freeway - its worse on the small streets - or when comes in your house. Apparently this is the only region in Italy like this - something should be done. They protest so any things - we should as the military protest to get the trash picked up. By the way Rome is in the Lazio Region.
Hello. Just wanted to say that I wrote the article for GloboSapians over a year ago. As some News Agencies have reported, trash is being cleared in many of the worst areas- but, they are also saying that the cleaning is only temporary because the same problems exist and the landfills only opened their gates to this region for 20 days. The road leading to our house was so jam packed with garbage that there was barely room for a bike much less a car. Imagine driving on garbage to get to your house! About a week or so ago, they cleared out all the garbage lining the street. Today- the garbage is beginning to pile up once again in the same places on the same streets. I am so happy that the WORLD is finally taking notice of what is going on here, and that was the reason I wrote the travel report in the first place. Being that I live here- I know first hand how things really are & I wanted to warn everyone to stay away. I can not imagine the long term effects this will have on everything and everyone in this & the surrounding areas. I sure hope that many people are praying along with the woman called "la Passionaria of Parapoti" for a solution, a miracle- because they need one here. Don't drink the water! Don't breathe the air! Don't come to Naples until they figure out how to make this problem go away!!!
thats crazy! there are also some video of the garbage on www.youtube.com if you want to see more. it so crazy that a city like naples can be buring and seized by garbage!
Ok, i'm napolitan... We have this problem because we have had a lot of corrupted politicians, but now with Silvio Berlusconi we are solving the problem in just one year!
I visit Naples often. My dad is in the military and is stationed at Capodichino. My last visit was at Christmas/New Years 2007/08.
While it is one of my favorite places to visit in Italy there are many problems. Being that I speak Italian I often asked my Neapolitan friends why things are the way they are. Any Neapolitan asked would reply that the problem is linked to the Camorra ( or Neapolitan mafia). That the the mafia controls everything down to the trash.
When I visited in December I believe that it was the worst that I have ever seen. I believe worse that the 3 months I spent there last summer. The trash was horrible even on the U.S Navy support site, where many Naval Sailors and their families live. When I spoke with some of my Italian friends they told me that the trash sitution was impoving, this was a few months ago however. After talking with my parents ( a day ago) they said that things were returning to the way they were before, that is to say the trash is beginning to pile up again.
My parents live in Monte di Procida ( about 20 Kilometers west of Naples). The town is one of the few that I know about that have regular trash pickup and even a recycling center. However the neighboring towns of Bacoli, Fusaro and Cuma do not seem to have these resourses so the problems never go away. Trash is found in front of homes, resturants and even a High school.
I would not discourage anyone from visiting Naples. In my opinion Naples is the real Italy and is a " must see " for anyone planning a trip to Italy. Downtown Naples is not as bad as the surrounding areas and has undergone many restoration works to it's countless monuments. I am a linguist and I would like to find a job teaching English as a second language in Italy, I hope in Naples!
Naples is a love/ hate place. Either you love it or hate it. I love the Neapolitan people, they are very friendly and I have had no difficulty finding friends to spend my time with when I visit there. While garbage is never appealing don't let it stop you from visiting one of the best cities on earth ( just my opinion : - P ) !! ; - ) And being that my mom and I are from Puerto Rico it was not difficult to learn the language. Anyone that speaks Spanish will not find it hard to learn Italian ( or at least communicate with the locals ).