Something to Remember if you vacation in Italy

[daniel49]

ROME ? If you get mugged in Naples, don't fight back.

An American tourist was beaten by an angry mob in the streets of the southern Italian city after he chased down two men who had just stolen his camera, police said Wednesday.

Full story

Appears lawlessness is fairly well tolerated in Naples.
My sister In Law and her Husband go over to Italy a lot and make it sound pretty nice, will have to ask her if she has hit Naples yet.

 

[Albatross]

southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

chased the thieves into a narrow alley

I'd buy another camera, thanks. Lucky a beating is all he got.

 

[DealMonkey]

Maybe Italians are sick of Americans playing "world police"?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Two guys on scooters snatching anything from tourists in Naples...been going on for decades.
It's a way of life.


...Galvanized

 

[Genx87]

Should have a detonation device on that camera, boom goes the dynamite.

 

[jpeyton]

I was in Naples a few weeks back; it indeed is the armpit of Italy.

That said, I didn't have any issues with theft when I was in Italy or anywhere else in Europe. Just use your common sense.

 

[brandonbull]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Maybe Italians are sick of Americans playing "world police"?

Americans are tired of being the "world police". Much rather pull all troops back to the US and let the world have at it.

Sometimes people forget that the US wants big say in what happens when we send off hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

 

[Jaskalas]

Originally posted by: daniel49
ROME ? If you get mugged in Naples, don't fight back.

An American tourist was beaten by an angry mob in the streets of the southern Italian city after he chased down two men who had just stolen his camera, police said Wednesday.

Full story

Appears lawlessness is fairly well tolerated in Naples.
My sister In Law and her Husband go over to Italy a lot and make it sound pretty nice, will have to ask her if she has hit Naples yet.

You should try downtown LA. Where you might win the drive by lottery at any given time.

 

[homercles337]

Id rather be beaten than gunned down by a doorag with gold fronts...

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Maybe Italians are sick of Americans playing "world police"?

It always helps if you read the article before you post:
The brawl is not unusual in a city that has occasionally seen large groups of residents siding with suspected criminals.

Last year, a crowd of some 200 people threw stones, bottles and food at police injuring 12 officers who had attempted to arrest two men for stealing a motorcycle.

The arrest of the son of an alleged crime boss near Naples last year also sparked protests by residents, mainly women, who hurled objects and insults at police.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

 

[Albatross]

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

sure,most of the people in the US of italian origin come from the south ,they are european, the area is beautiful,still that area was occupied by the arabs had strong connections with the Byzantium ,civic society is pretty much inexistant,i think is the region in the EU which gets the most regional aid in Western Europe,the mafia is higly regarded by some and in fact is a state in state etc.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

The Amalfi Coast is actually part of Unesco's world heritage. And the topic should read "if you are vacationing in Naples", not "in Italy".

In Naples the problem comes from the so-called Spanish Neighborhoods. Organized crime is still powerfull in Naples and in those parts of the city young people are willing to defend the crooks in order to gain the respect of the gang leaders. In the past many times they run in front of a police car chasing some criminal to slow them down and avoid an arrest.

By the way, I read the police arrested few hours later one of the thieves and now know the identity of the other one. Some of the people who assaulted the tourist have also been charged for aggression.

Having lived for quite a long time in Italy some years ago, I must say that while Naples is a marvellous city well worth visiting, it does have a problem of criminality and tourists should behave accordingly.
No digital cameras exposed, and consider insuring them against theft. It's not expensive and gives you a lot of serenity. I am a photography lover myself, and all my equipment is insured. When you walk around with 10 thousand dollars in cameras and lenses it's quite hard not to fight back against a thief, if you are insured you don't really care, cause you are refounded 100% of the value

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: Tango

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

The Amalfi Coast is actually part of Unesco's world heritage. And the topic should read "if you are vacationing in Naples", not "in Italy".

In Naples the problem comes from the so-called Spanish Neighborhoods. Organized crime is still powerfull in Naples and in those parts of the city young people are willing to defend the crooks in order to gain the respect of the gang leaders. In the past many times they run in front of a police car chasing some criminal to slow them down and avoid an arrest.

By the way, I read the police arrested few hours later one of the thieves and now know the identity of the other one. Some of the people who assaulted the tourist have also been charged for aggression.

Having lived for quite a long time in Italy some years ago, I must say that while Naples is a marvellous city well worth visiting, it does have a problem of criminality and tourists should behave accordingly.
No digital cameras exposed, and consider insuring them against theft. It's not expensive and gives you a lot of serenity. I am a photography lover myself, and all my equipment is insured. When you walk around with 10 thousand dollars in cameras and lenses it's quite hard not to fight back against a thief, if you are insured you don't really care, cause you are refounded 100% of the value

more good info to know.
Italy is one of the countries in Europe I would actually want to visit.

 

[Scarpozzi]

The guy was probably a mormon. What chance would he have in a fist fight?

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: daniel49

Originally posted by: Tango

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

The Amalfi Coast is actually part of Unesco's world heritage. And the topic should read "if you are vacationing in Naples", not "in Italy".

In Naples the problem comes from the so-called Spanish Neighborhoods. Organized crime is still powerfull in Naples and in those parts of the city young people are willing to defend the crooks in order to gain the respect of the gang leaders. In the past many times they run in front of a police car chasing some criminal to slow them down and avoid an arrest.

By the way, I read the police arrested few hours later one of the thieves and now know the identity of the other one. Some of the people who assaulted the tourist have also been charged for aggression.

Having lived for quite a long time in Italy some years ago, I must say that while Naples is a marvellous city well worth visiting, it does have a problem of criminality and tourists should behave accordingly.
No digital cameras exposed, and consider insuring them against theft. It's not expensive and gives you a lot of serenity. I am a photography lover myself, and all my equipment is insured. When you walk around with 10 thousand dollars in cameras and lenses it's quite hard not to fight back against a thief, if you are insured you don't really care, cause you are refounded 100% of the value

more good info to know.
Italy is one of the countries in Europe I would actually want to visit.

To me Italy is the most beautiful country in the world, no debate possible. It's also the place where I'll move when retired. But it's also a very complicated country, where every single event in 3000 years of history still leave a presence and affect everyday life, the differences between the north and the south being the most notable of these historical issues. The german-speaking province of Bolzano has the highest per capita income in Europe, while the province of Enna in Sicily has the lowest in the continent.
Everything from culture to politics to sports to the arts is so multi-layered and intricated that most people from other countries simply cannot understand how such distant extreemes can exist in a country the size of Arizona.
Despite having had more than a government change per year(!) in the last 50 years, the problems caused by Mafia, a huge informal economy and a chronic lack of natural resources it has roughly the same GDP as France or China, something that puzzles most economists around the world. Then all the intricate secrets of the political terrorism years during the '70s, the Mafia, the food (a serious thing if there is one in Italy), the Opera and of course the cultural heritage of a country whose artistic wealth equals that of the rest of the world combined.

I recently read this book by english journalist and writer Tobias Jones, who moved to Italy for love and found himself unable to leave:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086547.../002-2524405-8645655?v=glance&n=283155

He closes the book with one of the most perfect sentences to describe the complexity of feelings this country inspires: while he finds Italy "infuriating and endlessly irritating," he can't imagine leaving, because "life seems less exciting outside Italy."

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: albatross

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

sure,most of the people in the US of italian origin come from the south ,they are european, the area is beautiful,still that area was occupied by the arabs had strong connections with the Byzantium ,civic society is pretty much inexistant,i think is the region in the EU which gets the most regional aid in Western Europe,the mafia is higly regarded by some and in fact is a state in state etc.

No, my wife was born in Venosa, a small town on the old Appian Way, in Southern Italy. She's not a U.S. citizen, just came over with me when I transfered back to the USA

There are lovely small towns in S. Italy, and they do have a lot culture & arts etc. The food is fantastic & the people are very conservative, but friendly and curious. IHMO, it's not correct to say that civic society is non existant, much to the contrary. These people practically invented it. I've learned this as I've spent a lot of time visiting my father-in-law etc in Venosa, and have had to help my wife work with the local government (Dept of Social Service type thingy) to get retiremnt benfits etc for him.

The area (S. Italy) is basicaly the "bread basket" of Italy. Lots of farming, wheat, olives etc. Over around Naples there's a lot citrus friut and stuff. Man I love the place.

Yes, the area was partially inhabited by Arabs, but really in such an "old place" as Southern Italy there is a lot of "mix" of the various Mediteranean peoples.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: albatross
southern italy is a different civilization than the west.there are many italians in the north who want separation.

I don't know.. I get along fine with the peeps in S. Italy. In fact, I married one.

Parts of Naples are pretty rough. The rest of S Italy is not like Naples. While I agree that parts of Naples are worse than an armpit (the area near the central station), there are very beautiful areas nearby. Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast are great.

Fern

sure,most of the people in the US of italian origin come from the south ,they are european, the area is beautiful,still that area was occupied by the arabs had strong connections with the Byzantium ,civic society is pretty much inexistant,i think is the region in the EU which gets the most regional aid in Western Europe,the mafia is higly regarded by some and in fact is a state in state etc.

No, my wife was born in Venosa, a small town on the old Appian Way, in Southern Italy. She's not a U.S. citizen, just came over with me when I transfered back to the USA

There are lovely small towns in S. Italy, and they do have a lot culture & arts etc. The food is fantastic & the people are very conservative, but friendly and curious. IHMO, it's not correct to say that civic society is non existant, much to the contrary. These people practically invented it. I've learned this as I've spent a lot of time visiting my father-in-law etc in Venosa, and have had to help my wife work with the local government (Dept of Social Service type thingy) to get retiremnt benfits etc for him.

The area (S. Italy) is basicaly the "bread basket" of Italy. Lots of farming, wheat, olives etc. Over around Naples there's a lot citrus friut and stuff. Man I love the place.

Yes, the area was partially inhabited by Arabs, but really in such an "old place" as Southern Italy there is a lot of "mix" of the various Mediteranean peoples.

Yup, Sicily was inhabited by Arabs at some point, but before that was colonized by Greeks (famous Magna Grecia) and Normans which explains why so many people in Sicily are blond, have blue eyes and look nordic. Naples has been part of Spain under the Borboni family and later was conquered by other italian provinces until the country's unification and indipendence.

The problem in the south is that it has been for a long time colonized and conquered by foreign powers who used to trade it as a token to sign a peace after war or for major political deals. This gave the people the idea that any government would have been transitory and this together with the predatory policies foreign powers usually had in the region created a distrust for politics and central governments percieved as far away and not interested in the real problems the locals had.

In Sicily Mafia used to have quite a lot of support from common people, but it's not the case anymore, mainly after the Corleonesi family took the power in the late '80s and tried to impose such a brutal criminal regime it was simply impossible to bare.
Of course we all remember the media-friendly stories of those who support the mobs, like in this case in Naples, but history of Southern Italy is also full of judges, police officiers and common people who stood up against organized crime in sicily and in many cases paid this brave decision with their life.

 

[cecco]

I was born in Perugia, Italy and lived there for 12 years prior to moving here to the States. Fern it right. Southern Italy is a beautiful place, but even as kid i could see the differences that a few hundred miles make. The way of thinking is different, down there you can see the effects that years of corruption have and how they remain interwined with life. That said, la costa Amalfitana is beautiful. I too plan on retiring back to my native country with my wife when time is right.

:beer: a una buona vita

 

[WiseOldDude]

When in the Navy I was in Naples quite a few times. Best analogy I have is that it is like Tijuana Mexico, and unlike every other city in Italy. It would not be on even my long list of places to visit in Europe.

 

[MadRat]

If Southern Italy suddenly fell off the map, from Rome on south to be exact, the world probably wouldn't miss it. Rome on south was the worst part of Europe that I've visited. Even the bombed out outskirts of Madrid and industrial wastelands of eastern europe seemed upscale in comparison.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: MadRat
If Southern Italy suddenly fell off the map, from Rome on south to be exact, the world probably wouldn't miss it.

Hem... these are all sites in Southern Italy being part of Unesco's world culture heritage...

* I Sassi di Matera (1993)
* Historic Centre of Naples (1995)
* Castel del Monte (1996)
* The Trulli of Alberobello (1996)
* 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex (1997)
* Archaeological Area of Agrigento (1997)
* Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata (1997)
* Costiera Amalfitana (1997)
* Su Nuraxi di Barumini (1997)
* Villa Romana del Casale (1997)
* Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia (1998)
* Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula (1998)
* Villa Adriana (Tivoli) (1999)
* Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites (2000)
* Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands) (2000)
* Villa d'Este, Tivoli (2001)
* Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily) (2002)
* Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia (2004)
* Val d'Orcia (2004)
* Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica (2005)

A few images of what you say the world wouldn't miss:

http://www.ljplus.ru/img2/pycaky/Amalfi-Coast,-Campania,-Italy.jpg
http://www.photoatlas.com/photo/italy-pompei.jpg
http://www.hotelitaliani.info/Regions/Campanie/ImagesCampanie/Caserta1.jpg
http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/60/perugia.jpg
http://keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/art/g/giotto/assisi/upper/_upper.jpg
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/ru/bilder/assisi/kloster01.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/italyphotogallery/images/various/gubbio.jpg
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/maitani/0facade.jpg
http://www.physics.union.edu/newmanj/2000/images/siracusa%20greek%20temple.jpg
http://www.physics.union.edu/newmanj/2000/images/siracusa%20street.jpg
http://www.nausicaa.napoli.it/files/materiali/Porto%20di%20Napoli.jpg
http://www.italy-sorrento.com/images/amalfi-hotels.jpg
http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publish_db/2000Afterlife/00/00img/00pl33L.jpg
http://www.wilander.com/Valley%20-%20Agrigento%20124.jpg
http://www.hh.schule.de/ohmoor/s3reise/italia/ercolan.jpg
http://www.ischianet.com/pannello/sezioni/4b_ischia_tv_0108183910.jpg
http://www.centrorestauro.sicilia.it/immagini/Taormina-Teatro%20Greco.jpg
http://www.ps.uci.edu/~markm/firenze/Duomo%20of%20Palermo.jpg

Where exactly have you been in Southern Italy?

 

[MadRat]

All over: Rome, Brindisi, Taranto, Naples, Bari, and Salerno. I loved the northern parts of Italy but the south left a bad taste in my opinions.

 

[Syringer]

I was in Europe for 5 weeks, and felt a whole lot safer even in the dark empty alley ways in the middle of the night than I would in many parts of the US. This is mainly due to the fact that people don't carry guns over there..