US warns tourists of Naples waste

[demoleft]

Source: BBC

The US embassy in Rome has warned American tourists that they may face health risks if they travel to Naples, because of the city's rubbish crisis.

The US embassy warns that fires lit by local citizens to try and get rid of the rubbish may give off toxic fumes.

It also warns that tourists may encounter demonstrations from residents angered by the crisis.

Correspondents say the crisis has its roots in political mismanagement and the involvement of organised crime.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6287228.stm

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So sadly true.
I don't know how to explain: it's like a world apart.
It's organized desperation, a wound in the democratic nation we want to be.
Generations of politicians failed to solve the problem. Many didn't even mean to. The population is warm, gentle but got used to arrange things their own personal way to survive or to get what they need. And sometimes they go the worst way.

It's a strange dimension: if you comment on this in Italy the first thing city political leaders say is "Napoli is not only this and to portrait this is to limit its image and distort the truth".

What the hell must happen more to let them admit?

Pino Daniele, singer from Napoli, sang "Napoli is a dirty paper and nobody cares..." (my translation). Almost thirty years are gone since the song was written. You see what's changed...

Yes, US tourists. I'm so sad to say your embassy was right: it's tragic situation in Napoli. And few want to tell.

[Ian David]

1. Remember: Burning trash in Rome is bad for you. Burning World Trade Center Towers... safe. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. There's no way the rubbish fires burn hot enough to melt the

discarded cat food tins!


:tinfoilhat:

[mainer]

3. They had a rubbish crisis last year as well!

When we were there, mounds of trash were piled up everywhere.

[damntexdem]

4. Maybe Vesuvius will erupt and bury all the waste.

After all, consider how it cleaned up Pompei a couple of millenia ago.

[LibertyLover]

5. I was in Naples once during a garbage strike

It had only been going on about a week, but boy was the odor interesting. We were there to eat lunch at a restaurant on the bay after having been to Pompeii. Thank goodness for a prevailing breeze. We didn't stay long, which was disappointing. Naples is an interesting city architecturally - and if you saw the recent program on Naples underground it's even more interesting - one site had a whole street, shops, road, everything - in situ. Another site was an old quarry for tufa that was used to build Roman Naples, complete with graffiti. Very cool.

[newscott]

6. I was in Naples last fall

It's an interesting city. Saw the Capodimonte museum, the Spanish Quarter and Castelnuovo.

No garbage problem at that time.

In Avellino, about 15 miles east of Naples they were having a huge garbage problem. The smell was just terrible. Combined with the chestnut farmers burning the chestnut husks it was a very interesting aroma.

I asked my relatives in a nearby mountain town why all the garbage and they told me that it's always been this way in the south. Nobody does anything about it and now the garbage has to be hauled all the way to other countries like Poland for crying out loud.

[SayWhatYo]

7. Argghh, tell the US embassy to shutup.

They are making all Americans look bad.