The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • National

    DAVIS: Yankee hater finds love for team

  • National

    Late-season hurricane heads toward Gulf

  • Politics

    Abortion a main issue in health debate

  • Sports

    Redskins still going south

  • World

    Ex-Soviet Union struggles with Democracy

  • Politics

    Health bill faces roadblocks in Senate

  • Politics

    Lieberman vows probe of Hood rampage

Home » News » World

Monday, August 4, 2008

Naples courts American tourists

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

Cruise passengers offered haven from muggers and trash piles

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos
Please stand by, images loading!
  • Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, with Coordinator of Civil Protection Agostino Miozzo (left), gestures at garbage cleared from the central beach in Naples. Last month, Mr. Berlusconi deployed the army and bulldozers to cart off and dispose of the garbage piled high by Mafia thugs. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
  • A truck dumps garbage at a waste-incinerating plant on Friday in the western Germany city of Weisweiler, where 46 truckloads of waste were brought from the Italian city of Naples. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
  • Mount Vesuvius-area waste dumps were ordered reopened, and bulldozer operators, under army protection, carted away mountains of trash that had piled up in the squares and roads of Naples, ending the city's long-running garbage crisis. (Associated Press)

More World Stories

  • Suicide bomber kills 12 in Pakistan market
  • Ex-Soviet Union struggles with Democracy
  • 20 years after the Berlin Wall's fall: An East European looks back
  • Poland embraces past while moving ahead

By John Phillips

NAPLES | For more than a century, hundreds of thousands of impoverished Neapolitans made their way to the imposing port station building in the Bay of Naples to embark for a new life in the United States.

These days, the maritime station, lapped by the crystal-clear waves of the Mediterranean, is courting tens of thousands of Americans on cruise ships, who face the prospect of being mugged, a legacy of Mafia mobsters who - luckily for the U.S. - never left home.

Air-conditioned shopping malls have been erected in an annex to the heavily guarded station building so that cruise passengers can buy traditional Neapolitan jewelry, cakes, fine wines and other souvenirs and return to their cabins without fear of Mafia thieves.

Robbing American tourists is a favorite pastime of Mafia thugs, who control much of the city. Another favorite pastime is making sure the streets of Naples are piled high with stinking piles of trash - their way of teaching the Italian government that, like TV's Tony Soprano, only they have rights to remove solid waste.

The foot soldiers of the Camorra, the vicious Naples version of the Cosa Nostra, lurk in the shadows waiting for the tourists, many descended from the original emigrants to the United States.

After a shopping spree, tourists can admire the huge marble-topped desk where emigrants to America used to sign their embarkation papers.

Visitors can also relax in a luxury restaurant in the station serving exquisite seafood and pasta at tables with a view of the Vesuvius volcano and the isle of Capri.

While many passengers on the cruise vessels that ply the Mediterranean prefer not to venture into Naples' trash-clogged streets, port authorities are at pains to point out that the city's long-running rubbish crisis ended weeks ago when Prime Minister Berlusconi deployed the army to start clearing away the Mafia-generated stench.

Despite opposition from local residents, he ordered waste dumps opened near Vesuvius and sent in bulldozers, under army protection, to cart away mountains of trash that had piled up in squares and roads for months.

After the army operation, port officials also insist that those tourists who do leave their vessels need take no more precautions than would be normal in any other big city.

[Get Copyright Permissions] Click here for reprint permissions!
Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Please login or register to post a comment

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  2. Parents buying homes for kids at college
  3. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  4. House OKs health reform bill
  5. Inside the Beltway
More Top Stories »
  1. Sniper's ex-wife speaks out on abuse
  2. Annandale man killed in hit-and-run
  3. Aborted fetus cells used in beauty creams
  4. Sunshine vitamin stirs new debate
  5. PRUDEN: Corpse sits up, gets nice salute

Most Shared

  1. Parents buying homes for kids at college
  2. EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
  3. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  4. Sunshine vitamin stirs new debate
  5. PRUDEN: Corpse sits up, gets nice salute
More Top Stories »
  1. Obama's unlearned lesson
  2. NSA surveillance -- of you?
  3. Looking to 2010, GOP focuses on fiscal restraint
  4. Aborted fetus cells used in beauty creams
  5. House OKs health reform bill

Most Commented

  1. House OKs health reform bill
  2. EDITORIAL: Too scared to recognize terrorism
  3. Muslims stunned by Fort Hood shooting
  4. Furious scramble for health reform support
  5. 'Gentle' Army psychiatrist displayed worrisome signs
More Top Stories »
  1. Army chief wary of backlash against Muslim soldiers
  2. Obama praises those who ended Fort Hood violence
  3. Making fun of faith
  4. Israelis unsure of U.S. support
  5. Obama: It's Senate's turn on health care

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Question of the day

Now that the House has passed the health reform bill, do you think the Senate will try to kill it?

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    New Dem talking point on Obama approval doesn't wash

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    Washington goes Greek this week

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    Samuels feeling better, hopeful

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.