Naples Stinks!
 

Anyone planning a visit to Naples in the very near future may want to re-think their plans due to the town's current garbage crisis, where garbage has not been picked up in weeks and just piles up everywhere.

The problem - incredibly because the local landfil is full (dah - it just hit them the landfil was full now - not two years ago) so there is no place to haul the garbage to.

Residents have started to burn garbage in the streets, according to the Mayor of Naples this has produced a pall of smoke over the town and has raised health concerns for those forced to inhale it.

The seen sounds intolerable for the time being. I was in Naples in January and then remarked about the garbage piling up everywhere - i thought it was standard practice but i guess it was just the beginning of the big pile up.

Toronto, Canada ships much of their garbage by a convoy of trucks over 200 miles to landfills in Michigan. Naples can't find some nearby town with spare landfill space to buy?

They must have seen this coming and done nothing concrete though no doubt they get some EU funds for it or Italian funds that perhaps go down the black hole of this still Mafia sgtronghold. (Imagine tax money from places like the Cotswolds ending up in Naples Commoro (sp?) mob hands!

Naples is a fabulously interesting city and i have enjoyed visiting it several times. Never boring but for now i may think twice about it under the garbage crisis is solved.

To paraphrase Mr. Ed "something is rotten in Naples and i'm getting a good whiff of it overhere"

I meant to post something about this today, because I haven't seen it mentioned until now. It does sound very unpleasant.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/natio....asp?ID=190887

www.seekitaly.com has information on this and the latest on various strikes.

Have reservationsa for Monday, June 25 at the Hotel Vesuvio. Flying out the next morning at 10:00.
Ant ideas where to stay outside of Naples, if the garbage crisis is supposed to last that long?

it may not impact your Naples hotel stay - suppose they keep the hotel area clean - but if walking around the city is the problem - incredibly tiny alleys are apparently garbage-full. I'm sure the hotel as well as the Castello-Museum area is not garbage-strewn so i personally would not cancel unless i knew more.

Thank you; it's my first trip to Europe, and I hope it's not a putrid mess!

We plan to stay in Naples for one night, after staying in Sorrento for a few days, before we go to Sardinia. How serious is this problem? We really would like to see Naples and spend some time there. We are supposed to leave Naples at about 6-7 pm. We can come late in the evening from Sorrento on the previous day. So, it's hardly one full day. Do you think we can take it for that long? Is it in all areas?

I was just about to post a question" is it worth visiting Naples?'
We are thinking about next spring. Hope the strike is over by then or one will be able to smell their garbage in Rome.

This happened a few years ago too although maybe not to this extent. We were driving down the mountain road from Amalfi to Naples and in the outskirts of town the trash lining the road was piled higher than the car.

It was surreal and a little scary.

<So, it's hardly one full day. Do you think we can take it for that long? Is it in all areas?>

i think we'll have to get a first-hand report to really know that.

And i don't believe it's a strike but that landfills are full and there is no place to move the garbage to (except the sea of course but not PC now) - i could be wrong but in any case in a civilized country like Italy how can authorities let this go on long before a health crises ensues?

Travelnut, the link requires an email address and password--any way to post without?

From what I have read PalenQ, Naples is suffering from a severe case of NIMBY--there has been huge opposition to plans for new landfills in the areas proposed. As a result the only available dump is full. This may be a case of brinksmanship.

That's weird about the 'registration'. I just found it by going to Google News, and typing "naples trash". Clicked on it and it opens for reading, as do many other stories.

Just got back from Naples, but not the historical center. Yes, there is trash piled up and overflowing onto the streets. Some of the piles have been burned, so they are black piles of garbage. We kept the windows rolled up while driving through to my husband's grandfather's apartment, who lives in San Giorgio on the outer rim of Naples towards Pompei. But there was a massive pile near his building anyway. When we got out of the car, it didn't really smell...and I'm pregnant and thought I have a pretty keen sense of smell now. Yesterday we drove by a bar with outdoor cafe that was right next to one of the massive piles of garbage...and the outdoor cafe was filled with locals sipping coffee and having gelato. We thought it a bit disgusting. But all the locals were out yesterday because it was election day.

Anyway, my husband's aunt said that today (Monday, 28 May) they were supposed to take away all the trash. Who knows if it will happen or not. But in Caserta, just outside of Naples there was the same problem and 2 days ago they took away the trash. So hopefully Naples will be next to be cleaned up!

I'm sorry but I don't know how bad the historical tourist area of Naples is. But I really think it will be cleaned up within the next week, since Caserta has been cleaned up recently. Hope this helps!

amy - thanks for the update - sounds like not the greatest time to fully enjoy the sights (and smells) of Naples though you give some optimism that the whole stinking mess may be cleaned out soon - it has to be i would think before the really hot summer weather comes.

We just came back from Naples on the 25th, having spent the last 3 days there of our 3-week trip to Italy. Yes, I was somewhat aware of garbage, but it was being picked up. They set it outside on the sidewalk for pickup at night and it was gone in the morning, so it is going somewhere. I was very pleasantly surprised by Naples - we loved it and would definitely go back. The area around via Chiaia and Piazza Martiri was lovely to stroll through, felt very safe at night, and the food is of course, fantastic.

The story just hit our newspaper (LA Times)this Sunday. For updates on the proble they said to call 310-820-1898.

Got an email this AM from a friend who lives in Naples. He said he hasn't noticed an accumulation in his neighborhood (near historic Naples) but that his friends in the suburbs are inundated.

ttt

I assume some two weeks later that the garbage and stench have been taken care of?

any reports?

Does anybody know how the garbage situation is(will be) in Naples (in July)?

We plan to visit Naples in mid July and are staying for two nights at a hotel near the train station.

We were in Naples last week (returned 6/13) and around the historic center and National Archaeology Museum, there was no garbage build-up in the streets. There always seems to be small amounts of trash in the gutters but we didn't notice anything unusual and we were aware of the problems in May so we were looking for it.

Sounds like it's back to normal litter - still appalling to me in January but at least not like reports had it in May.

We were in Naples at the end of June. The garbage situation is ok, nothing critical. Naples, in general, is kind of on the dirty side but nothing unusual. There is no reason to worry about it.