Naples! The future?
 

My son sent me 'awesome' pictures of the piles of garbage lining the streets of Naples. Is this an indicator of of problems to come in other overcrowded cities? Will you avoid Naples? Or, adventuresome, visit Naples?

The problem in Naples has nothing to do with overcrowded cities and everything to do with the fact that garbage disposal has been in the hands of the Camorra (the local Mafia) for years.

Been to Naples- couldn't wait to go there and now I wouldn't go back!
Trying to cross the road there was scary for me and I thought the streets were dirty.We used taxis a lot.
Thankfully we stayed in a hotel up on the hill with a view of the bay. We took daytrips to Capri and Sorrento while we were there.
We were in 2 or 3 restaurants where we had very unfriendly service.

Hi GSteed,
There have been a couple of threads discussing the garbage crisis in Naples, and you can read more there.
One is titled "Garbage in Naples", and the other "Garbage in Naples!".

But there is also a trip report from a couple who has recently been there:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35096552

I love Naples and will likely visit again, but I agree that the current situation is at a crisis level. (seemingly a result of landfills already filled to the brink, a garbage strike in the past year, and the Camorra thing (though I makes no sense to me how even the Camorra could be the sole reason, because the level of the problem has to be "bad for business"!)

I also found alot of footage on this issue on YouTube. A sad situation, but I will still visit Naples in the future. I'm so sad for the people who are living there!

In spring 2003, the headlines were the same. The US papers had articles and pictures of the garbage piled up in Naples.

I visited Naples every year from 2001 until this past year, though a couple of the visits were day trips. In my experience, some local areas and suburbs of Naples had problems but others much less so. Naples is a city that tends to bring out extreme opinions. Tourists tend to either love it or hate it.

The current situation of uncollected garbage is quite different, and more widespread. It is being considered more on a level of environmental emergency.

In the January 12-18 issue of The Economist there is a short article on the garbage crisis accomanied by a hideous photo of the situation.

"By January 8th some 60,000 tonnes of garbage were piled up in the streets, roughly 5,000 tonnes of it in Naples itself."

The situation is being talked about but it seems there's quite a bit of conflict over how best to handle it. The Campania region lacks the proper incinerators and sending the refuse to other Italian regions "...is at odds with both Italian and European Union legislation (the European Commission is already threatening legal proceedings against Italy over Naple's garbage)."

Such a shame.