Travellers who walk, bus or train it from Central Station are then appalled at the amount of garbage that builds and spreads so far it can block a footpath and at times roads.
"What's going on with the garbage?" is often the first thing I hear when people arrive at the guesthouse and it is never easy to explain. If I say it's political, of course, and involves the Mafia and contention about the method of disposing the garbage it still appears that the inquirers question isn't answered.
As shocking as it is the garbage fascinates me as I haven't seen bags and bags of it pile up in so many parts of a city. Could it be an installation? I imagine some thinking, and in a way, it could look that way. It's a reminder to me of human waste on display because usually we're so good at keeping our waste hidden.
Neapolitans often react to the uncollected rubbish by setting fire to it and hang the expense of what else is likely to go up with it, namely cars, shop fronts, recycle bins and news stands.
There is also humour amongst the garbage. One person put a note on their garbage before sitting it in the pile-up asking, 'please don't touch my garbage'.
The garbage slumps on black flagstones and black cobbled streets and sometimes grey black buildings. Grey is a fabulous colour and if you want to learn about how many shades there are you will see it here.
It never smells as much as I expect it to and I'm not sure why. The uncollected garbage is a a temporary thing that has cropped up intermittently over the past 3 years and after the local elections hopefully it will be resolved, again.
The accompaniment to the garbage is the graffiti, it's everywhere! Some of it is great, some not so great. For me, I like most of it if the colour is right. What shocked me at first is that it is sprayed on to ancient statues, buildings, churches, homes, doors, shop fronts or anything that stands still long enough. Graffiti is not just in Naples, Paris has its fair share of it as well as other major cities around the world but it would be safe to say it's excessive here. When I went to Siena a few weeks back, I din't see any graffiti on the medieval buildings and streets so perhaps graffiti is a city thing.
I understand how it saddens people to see such old constructions defaced by graffiti but I often look at the people who live in and around it, and quite possibly people who actually did the graffiti and somehow it works, a mix of the old and the new, the wealth and the poverty, the beautiful and the ugly, the bland and the colourful because this is what Naples is and more.
When I go for walks I see the garbage but I don't react to mainly because I'm used to it but more so because it is dominated by such fantastic buildings and colourful visuals of the shops, streets and people. So, when you decide to visit Naples know that you will get past the station and the garbage to enjoy the buzzing gallery of Neapolitan streets.
Ciao
hellsbells
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| via Tribunali |
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| via Monte Oliveto |
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