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Naples is burning, again

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January 4, 2008· Filed Under Naples 

Some time back, I wrote about the rubbish situation down in Naples. Well, it appears as though the trash story has flared up yet again. All the national news here is alight with images of huge piles of rubbish, and huge piles of rubbish alight.

I had heard that the Neapolitan trash thing had been resolved, but, it sounds as though the solution was of the ’sweep-it-under-the-carpet’ variety. Only, said rug has not proved to be big enough, and, ‘hey presto’, back to square one.

Naples’ fireman (sorry, should use the pc ‘firepeople’) apparently spent a most enjoyable New Year’s evening dashing around the city putting out burning rubbish. That’s when they were not dealing with the bomb sized fireworks so beloved of those down in the south. Sounds like they, the firepeople, had a pretty trashy time. Heh heh (I will not use ‘ho ho’, a) ‘coz Christmas is all but over, and b) ‘coz I don’t want to be accused of being non-politically correct.).

Anyway, talking of politicially correct, Prodi has been creating a certain amount of hot air over all the fire down in Naples, and all the other politico’s are, as usual, trying to put Prodi’s flame out, by, equally as usual, calling for his resignation.

Ho hum. New Year, but same old, same old, here in the Living Museum (I shall continue to use the expression ‘Living Museum, because I still believe there is some live here, even if others, slightly more jaded than myself, consider that the word ‘Museum’ is enough to sum up ‘modern’ day Italy).

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Tags: Italy, live, museum, Naples, new year, People, Prodi, situation

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Comments

3 Responses to “Naples is burning, again”

  1. Gege' Bau said on January 5th, 2008 3:37 pm

    Talk about love/hate relationships! I adore the south, would move back there in a NooYawk minute if it weren’t for one thing. Well, two things. 1) La camorra and 2) the garbage problem. Actually they’re both aspects of the same big problem, but I guess that’s a topic for another post, if not for an entirely other blog!

    Napoli… what a beautiful, romantic, mysterious, fucked up city! Why it suffers the problems it does is such an old, long and complicated story. But the end result is one of the true tragedies of Italian society. The garbage pile-up is just a very visual (and smelly) symptom of a very deep problem that has to do with organized corruption within and throughout the local, provincial, regional and national governments. Not to mention camorra and the vatican.

    Now before someone starts wondering if I’m going to also blame the government and the vatican for everything from global warming to adolescent acne… yes I am! But not here.

    I lived in Naples for a long time, even did 3 years of university there. We have a house near Paestum where we like to go in the summer. In an area that lives and dies by tourism, every summer features a breakdown in infrastructure which results in mountainous piles of putrefying garbage on every corner. Outside luxury hotels that depend on their two months’ worth of international tourist business you see heaps and heaps of stinking refuse… and along with it all the various forms of wildlife that it attracts.

    Why do the local administrations let this happen? Why do the people just shrug their shoulders, raise their eyes toward the clouds and invoke a bunch of saints who obviously have better things to do than worry about such silliness? There are answers to these questions, but I’m afraid they’re as complicated as the questions themselves.

  2. Gege' Bau said on January 5th, 2008 5:13 pm

    Now what kind of a low-down, rotten, pinheaded moron lowlife would ever insinuate that this museum is anything but LIVING?!?!?!?

    Napoli, Napoli, Napoli… wassamatta you, Napoli? Why won’t you ever get your act together?

    I have to say, I have a huge weak spot in my heart for the entire mezzogiorno in general and for Napoli in particular. Besides the fact that I put in 3 good years at the University there way back when, it’s one of the most beautiful, romantic, exciting, mysterious places on the planet. Yet it, along with the entire South, just can’t pull itself out of its never-ending nightmare of corruption and intrigue. The South is the victim of the cynicism and greed of all the powers that be: local, regional and national government, la camorra and, yes, the vatican. There are so many interests involved in keeping things this way, there’s little hope for change… unless you are among the courageous few young people who are finally standing up and saying NO to a centuries old system of exploitation and avarice.

    In a land that lives and dies by tourism and agriculture, that the garbage problem is not only allowed to exist, but to get worse with every passing year is criminal. But Prodi, or whoever the pm du jour might be, just spews hot air, as you say Alex, and pays lip service to the real bosses. While Naples burns.

  3. AlexR said on January 5th, 2008 6:47 pm

    Gege’ Bau - ah, so you do like Italy ;-)

    Sounds as though, like me, you are frustrated by the fact that the true potential of the Living Museum never gets truly fulfilled, on account of camorra, er, inactive politicians, and an ambivalent (or apathetic, or both) populace, especially down south.

    I have been to Naples, but I do not really know the city, although I do know a few Neapolitans - who are lovely people.

    As for the recurring rubbish problem, well, it’s a concrete example of how much Italy needs change, but at the same time is terrified to initiate it. A beautiful, frustrating and confused place, if ever there was one - as we both have observed.

    As for the south, I do believe I too would love to live there, but only if I could semi-isolate myself from the craziness which exists there.

    Kind regards,

    Alex

    PS Maybe Nero and Prodi et al, have more than a little in common…

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