Italy’s Trashy Trouble Worsens
The out of control rubbish situation down in Naples, which has been smouldering away since 1994, has finally landed Italy in a spot of trouble.
I first wrote about this troublesome issue in my Naples and Rubbish post back in May 2007, then I mentioned it once more in January this year in my Naples is Burning again post. Just for good measure, I suggested something that Prodi might do to deal with the mess in a post entitled Want to Sort Out the Neopolitan Trash Problem Mr Prodi?, in which I suggested that the Italian army should be sent in to attack the problem.
Indeed, I was pretty surprised to learn the next day that Prodi had sent in the troops! Dutifully, I wrote yet another post - Was I Writing Rubbish? to announce the coincidence.
Well, this issue has not yet gone away, instead it has piled up into a whole heap of trouble for Italy. The European Union has finally tired of Italy’s procrastination over the trash topic and taken the Living Museum to court. All this despite Berlusconian promises to get on down there and sort this embarassing issue out.
Will this buring matter finally be resolved? Well, the ball’s now in the European court, so to speak.
Naples, Rubbish, and the NY Times
Recently the New York Times did a nice article entitled ‘36 Hours in Naples‘, which makes interesting reading and is well worth checking out. The trash/rubbish situation is mentioned, but then, in a funny sort of way this typically Italian crisis is increasing the city’s profile at a worldwide level, and some will be drawn there out of morbid curiosity I’ve no doubt.
As Brendan Behan apparently once said ‘There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.’, A quotation which could very well be the motto of someone rich and famous here in the Living Museum. Bet you can’t guess who! Not.
Was I writing rubbish?
Well, yesterday I suggested that Prodi and co bring in the army to sort out the trashy chaos down around Naples. So, I was a little bit surprised to read today in one of the freebe newspapers - E Polis Milano, that the Italian government was thinking about doing just that. In fact it was none other than the Italian defence minister, Alberto Parisi, who decided to send in the soldiers.
Maybe someone in his office read my blog, maybe he read my blog. I doubt it. Anyway, good thinking Mr Parisi.
Now, apparently, all they’ve got to do is decide where to put all the detritus. Well, I’m sure the Germans would be happy to help out, after all, in Germany they burn trash and turn it into power. A good example of Teutonic practicality, provided that they have managed to sort out the air pollution caused by burning all that rubbish.
More predictions coming your way soon from Blog from Italy. Not. Well, possibly.
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