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Naples, a city gone wild

ERIC REGULY AND LORENZO TONDO

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 8:14 AM EDT 23/02/08

Long famous for its beauty, culture and cuisine, the Italian icon has become infamous for its crime, violence and filth, write Eric Reguly and Lorenzo Tondo ...Read the full article

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  1. Kevin Desmoulin from TO, Canada writes: And to think we have problems here in Toronto, I still go visit, seems like a likely place full of life.
  2. lotusland maritimer from Sault Ste Marie, Canada writes: An old story.
    One expected more horror and beauty perhaps a few shots of the pompeiian Museum.
    Is it not a bit overblown?
    A few bits of trash on the street which a man with a wheelbarrow could clean up in fifteen minutes halts a city in its tracks?
    Calm cops in spiffy uniform smiling. A threat or working hard? They dont look worried or overworked.
    Not one of the derelict decaying buildings or were they just too scared to take photos? Discreetly with a mini digi cam?
    The photos might make a good tourist brochure but do not support the article even remotely.
    Then the suspicious musclebound arm of the wounded Canuck, one immediately wonders what he was doing in Naples? An innocent tourist???
    The solution is so simple eliminate the source
    of the gangsters profits ie drug use by the middle class and prostitution.
    If they cant sell drugs or girls they cant turn a profit.
    Make Naples vehicle free and the bay motorboat free. That leaves very slow getaways in canoes or horse drawn buggies.
    Then again bicycle theft might rise like in the 1945 movie.
  3. Vic Hotte from Kettleby, Canada writes: It is a sad story from Naples ... while it sounds fairly bad in Scampia, the same problem is cropping up in other cities (not as historical as Naples) around the world. Interesting comment from Mr. Saviano, interviewed in this article: 'Because the Mob charges close to market rates to pick up the waste but dumps it for next to nothing, the profit margins are lavish. Farmlands bought at extremely low prices are transformed into illegal dumping grounds.' The intractable problem of illegal dumping is very familiar -- southern Ontario had the same problem in the 1990s (and probably still does). A numbered company buys a piece of rural land, under vendor-take-back-mortgage conditions. Then, the dump trucks would start rolling in at all hours. Neighbours would complain, officials would issue their 'cease and desist' orders, but the trucks kept rolling. In one example, at a site dubbed 'Rollex Dump', located in Snowball, Ontario (60 km north of Toronto), the CBC filmed the site and tried to talk to the original land-owner. During that interview, truckers deliberately leaned on their horns. The Ministry of the Environment (M of E) really did nothing, until the numbered company renegged on the mortgage. Ownership reverted to the original owner, and then the M of E went after him for clean-up costs. Illegal dumping is a 'business' in Canada. So, the Neapolitans are correct 'the politicians and judiciary' are to blame 'for corruption and feckless behaviour.' The very people who are paid by public taxes to deal with this sort of criminal behaviour refuse to do anything. The description of the 'enormous concrete highrises' where 'There are no piazzas, no stores or tree-lined streets, no place to go for shade or coffee' also describes parts of Toronto. For this, we PAY provincial and municipal planners and politicians? What's the story in other provinces?
  4. Chris E. from vancouver, Canada writes: Northern Italy is more like Europe - the public institutions run, and order is maintained. Southern Italy is distinctly Mediterranean. The limited movement and migration of families over centuries has kept the culture and values regional - until now.

    Mass migrations of people can change a culture. If more northerners were to move south, the values would become more First World. If the flow continues to go the other way, Europe's centuries-old values will be lost, and all cities will become like Naples.
  5. Margo Kram from toronto, Canada writes: Chris E. and Harry Carnie, you guys are so right about migration. Canada used to be a great place until the Europeans moved in. Now everything's paved over in concrete, spewing noxious smoke and the waters have turned toxic. So when are you guys going to leave?
  6. Sage Observer from Canada writes: I was there last summer. The Amalfi coast was beautiful. Naples I felt lucky to escape with my life. Without laws and rules common in the civilized world, we are all going the way of Lagos. Remember that when you start to complain about your taxes.
  7. Rollo Tomasi from Belgium writes: Harry, you'd still love Naples because you'd stroll around downtown during daylight like the rest of us who know better and never go near Scampi.
  8. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: What do you expect from a country run by a mobster (at least he will be after April's election) who controls 90% of the media (the law permits it!) and who people say they are proud of.

    No wonder the Germans didn't want to give up their deutschmark to adopt the same currency as the Italians!
  9. Carbon Blob from Sector 7G, Canada writes: Wow, what a hell-hole. With any luck Mount Vesuvius will let loose and the city will have a chance at a fresh start. There was a good story in National Geographic about this a couple of months ago.

    I wouldn't this 'armpit of civilization' even if you paid me. (I'm trying to be generous with that statement.)
  10. Carolyn Bongiorno from Glenham, NY, United States writes: I grew up in the Bronx, and it's true we had a certain reputation. But even that changed in the 1990's, and we have oases of beauty, parks and some improvements. So I bristle at the comparison between Naples and the Bronx.

    I never saw Naples, but did visit Bari. My husband and I felt a little insecure, and we made sure not to hang out at Garibaldi Park and to be careful. There was a palpable feeling of danger in the air. I even saw a dead rat float by in the Adriatic waters.

    So many people had hopes for Mr. Prodi's government. He has been a disappointment, and Silvio Berlusconi is just waiting to make a comeback. Naples is mired in corruption. The rest of Italy must become involved and not ignore the mezzogiorno.
  11. Montgomery C. Burns from Springfield, Canada writes: I spent a few weeks in Italy 20 years ago. Napoli was the dirtiest, unfriendliest city of the lot. It sounds like it still is a hell-hole.
  12. MKK Flatron from Waterloo, Canada writes: Hold on a minute. A city of 4 million inhabitants with 100 murders? That's what the mayor said, and if he is right that means that Naples is only slightly worse than Toronto, and much better than most American metropolises.

    Talk about yellow journalism, gosh. I sometimes find that some North Americans are really eager to trash some other place, particularly Europe.
  13. Pablum Picasso from Canada writes: If the people from Naples are Neapolitan
    does that mean that people from the cosmos
    are cosmopolitan ?
  14. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: -----Hold on a minute. A city of 4 million inhabitants with 100 murders? That's what the mayor said, and if he is right that means that Naples is only slightly worse than Toronto, and much better than most American metropolises.-----

    First of all, no self-respecting European city would ever want to be compared to an American city, and second, murder is not the problem in Naples - it's the corruption and all of the other crimes. On that scale Naples has no peers!
  15. flo landis from Calgary, Canada writes: Napoli is a fantastic city that I've visited numerous times. Yes, it has problems. LOTS of problems. Yes, hustlers try to pick-pocket you. Yes, crossing the street is tantamount to crossing a Formula-1 track. Yes, people extort money from you to 'guard' your car or to 'squeegee' your windshield. Napoli is a port town after all -- with all its inherent crime, corruption and drug trafficking. But it's also a city filled with life: fishmongers belt out Italian operas, locals laugh and offer you the food off their plates, taxi drivers recite Dante. Don't even get me started on the pizza. But the article is about Scampia -- approximately 10 km from Napoli central -- and like the seediest section of ANY city with a metropolitan population of 4 million -- this Camorra-controlled suburb is an area few locals would visit. It's certainly not an area any tourist might accidentally stumble into. Those of us who live in Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary know there are scary, crime-controlled areas in our cities too. And guess what? Behind that suburban double-garage might be a crack-house, grow-op or meth-lab. And dumping? In 2004 both Victoria and Montreal received F grades from the Sierra Club for dumping raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean and St. Lawrence seaway respectively. Montreal's tally: 360 billion litres per annum. And we don't need a Camorra to do this; we elect people who make these decisions. Nevertheless, Napoli is not for everyone. Some people are turned off by the chaos. Others find the poverty too in-your-face. But take a funicular up to the tranquility of the Vomero hill, or visit trendy Chiaia and its Milan-esque Galleria, or stroll the waterfront, or buy a nativity scene on Via San Gregorio Armeno, or better yet chat to a local grocer. You may find out what Napoli's fans already know. That Neapolitans, despite the corruption, are proud of their city. Not only that, they're some of the most gracious and welcoming people you'll find.
  16. I. C. from Brunei Darussalam writes: The only problem with Italy is it's full of Italians. That goes for Toronto as well...
  17. steve allan from Welland, Ontario, Canada writes: Flo Landis - your facts are just a little bit off. Montreal dumps roughly 3.6 billion litres of raw sewage a year into the St Lawrence and not 360 billion. Saint John New Brunswick dumps twice that amount so you can see the Montreal number is not as bad you think, at least not on a relative basis.

    You should get a job working for the tourism industry. Of course anyone who has ever been to Naples (I have twice) knows the place is not worth visiting. As far as finding beauty amidst the squalor and crime, well that's akin to going to the local dump, looking up at the clear blue sky on a summer day and thinking how beautiful it is.
  18. * Lozange from Toronto, Canada writes:
    I think it's tragic for Naples to undergo such a abysmal turn. I met a young man from there, this summer in T.O. who was "stranded" here after working in NYC after his visa expired... I didn't fully understand his angst, and suggested since he seemed passionate to his surroundings to give theatre a try, but also to go home, to his family. Now I see that the prospects there are dismal for young people, however he did take my advice and is happy in theatre class. I don't know if he'll ever get passed the mistrust he displayed and his general pessimism, with Naples as a backdrop. Sad.
  19. Pablum Picasso from Canada writes: C. from Brunei Darussalam writes: The only problem with Italy is it's full of Italians. That goes for Toronto as well...

    Well the only problem with Toronto is that it’s full of Torontonians.
  20. Josh Gould from Canada writes: While the extent of my experience with Naples involved getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way to Sorrento and Capri, it was pretty obvious just from the highway that it was not a place worth visiting... though I can't say Sorrento was all that fun either. In fact, most of the southern Italy compares unfavourably with an ostensibly "poorer" or more "Mediterranean" country, namely Greece.

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