1: Naples

Napoli, Napoli (Campania), Italy

2: Qualiano

Qualiano, Napoli (Campania), Italy

3: Giugliano

Giugliano in Campania, Napoli (Campania), Italy

4: Marigliano

Marigliano, Napoli (Campania), Italy

5: Pianura

Pianura, Napoli, Napoli (Campania), Italy

6: Acerra

Acerra, Napoli (Campania), Italy

7: Pompei Archaeological Site

Pompei, Napoli (Campania), Italy   [+39 081 8575331]    website

November - March, every day from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission 3.30 p.m.)
April - October, every day from 8.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. (last admission 6 p.m.)

Chances are that you have never heard of the small Italian towns called Qualiano, Giugliano, Marigliano, Pianura or Acerra, however you have probably seen them on the news buried under a pile of garbage. While each of these cities is between 10 and 23 kilometers outside Naples, a lot of the media reporting about the garbage crisis are lumping all of them under a common name, Naples. For over a year the media have pumped pictures, videos and stories about Naples and its rubbish problem, but now some of the city’s hoteliers want you to know that the problem is outside of Naples.

Not since the Grand Tour (1660s -1840s) has Naples been on the radar of most travelers other then serving as a base for exploring Pompei or a place to catch the ferry to Capri. So when it is not clarified exactly where the garbage is stacking up, tourists seem to be assuming that Naples proper is buried, so they are giving the city a miss which is having a negative impact on the emerging tourist community. Click through for map.

According to Alfredo Cefalo who owns two budget hotels in Naples, “THERE IS NO TRASH IN NAPLES!” He goes on the state that “it is undeniable that the outer Napoli (the interland) is facing a problem, but it is not that tourists come to Napoli and go to see Marigliano, Giugliano, Qualiano, right? This unreliable news is deeply damaging the image of this great city, and it’s also giving a stab at our businesses.” This sentiment is reinforced by the owner of Hostel of the Sun, Luca, who states, “they collect the rubbish everyday here and what they actually showing on tv and [in the] newspapers are the suburbs out of Napoli , anyway the things are getting better there too.” Ironically, Alfredo may be a little wrong in that a tour called SpazzaTour (Trash Tour) has been created and posted on YouTube, which clearly shows that the garbage is in the suburbs. Actually SpazzaTour is just a van that is carrying journalists from heap to heap, not something that you can book. Search “spazzatour” on Youtube for examples, many are in Italian.

To help you get a better understanding of where the main problem we created a map which clearly indicates that the trash is outside Naples. If you were thinking about visiting Naples don’t let all the news dissuade you everything is up, going and there are plenty of people waiting to greet you!

Of course Pompeii is not a problem area but we added it to show that the trash problem is not there either.

* Denotes where trash problem is most serious.