Italy, lovely country, shame about no respect for it

FarmJames · 11-09-2014 10:15PM #1

Hi guys

So not sure where to post this, and mods please move it if required. I've been on a working holiday to Italy, actually return to ireland tomorrow. I decided to drive for the first time on the "wrong" side of the road which was an experience but this is not what this post is about.
I've now driven over 1,000 Kim's from top of Italy to bottom and while some of the roads are brilliant, some are just terrible. On my way to San giovanna visiting padre pios grave for my dad, I took the back roads (the quickest according to google maps) and holy bejesus are the roads bad. And I mean potholes that would ruin a car, but not only that. At each lay-by, or old abandoned house, there is almost a landfill of rubbish. Such a shame because of the beautiful country and amazing olive trees and grape fields to see this but some Italians have no respect. I seen one woman at a bus stop literally take the final gulp of water and drop her bottle on the ground. Sometimes I think we are harsh on ourselves but when I look at other countries, we're actually better. Mim not saying we don't have rubbish on roadways either but I've not seen some so bad as in Italy in all my years of driving in Ireland. So to carry on this thread, should we not be proud of Ireland for the little things and that we (not all but most) respect our surroundings or am I being too romantic and indeed we are filthy animals.

Banjo String · 11-09-2014 10:17PM

I lived with an Italian who had a prosthetic toe.

His name was Roberto.

AnonoBoy · 11-09-2014 10:17PM

But when the Italians litter they do it with such style.

La Dumpalina Bellissima as they call it.

Ruu · 11-09-2014 10:18PM

Ted: Dick Byrne's lot have a new fella.
He's flip hot - an Italian! Oh, the Italians know about football.
Dougal: And the world of fashion.

Donkey Oaty · 11-09-2014 10:20PM

"On my way to San giovanna
Visiting padre pios grave for my dad"

You've got a cultchie C&W hit there, son.

The Purveyor of Truth · 11-09-2014 10:24PM

OP, make sure to sleep as close to the edge of you bed tonight as possible, as have a feeling you might be waking up to a little equine company.

FarmJames · 11-09-2014 10:24PM

Donkey Oaty wrote: »

"On my way to San giovanna
Visiting padre pios grave for my dad"

You've got a cultchie C&W hit there, son.

I know

My dad's a typical mayo culchie farmer. If he actually travelled to Italy he wouldn't survive a day. No Barry's tea and they like their tea flavoured, like lemons

. My dad likes his tea strong like Greek gods.

Balmed Out · 11-09-2014 10:48PM

What I hate in Italy is that so many beautiful and historic monuments and buildings are defaced with sofia loves giovani or marco waz ere style graffiti.

Celly Smunt · 11-09-2014 10:49PM

FarmJames wrote: »

I know

My dad's a typical mayo culchie farmer. If he actually travelled to Italy he wouldn't survive a day. No Barry's tea and they like their tea flavoured, like lemons . My dad likes his tea strong like Greek gods.

Greece would probably be the place for him so.

Banjo String · 11-09-2014 10:50PM

Op were you in naples during the garbage strike in 2011?

Seriously, I had to attend a wedding in sorrento in July... It was a right tip.

Celly Smunt · 11-09-2014 10:50PM

Balmed Out wrote: »

What I hate in Italy is that so many beautiful and historic monuments and buildings are defaced with sofia loves giovani or marco waz ere style graffiti.

and "Romani ite domum" all over the place.

Balmed Out · 11-09-2014 10:53PM

Celly Smunt wrote: »

and "Romani ite domum" all over the place.

that'd be that Biggus Dickus, he does it everywhere. The prick

FarmJames · 11-09-2014 10:56PM

Banjo String wrote: »

Op were you in naples during the garbage strike in 2011?

Seriously, I had to attend a wedding in sorrento in July... It was a right tip.

No I wasn't and I thought this was a garbage strike, apparently not. I love italy but only for the weather, good road porn and good wine and in Florence; the beautiful women. It's just why not have respect for your country?

Banjo String · 11-09-2014 10:58PM

FarmJames wrote: »

No I wasn't and I thought this was a garbage strike, apparently not. I love italy but only for the weather, good road porn and good wine and in Florence; the beautiful women. It's just why not have respect for your country?

Fcuking hell. Every fetish is catered for these days.

Tell me more........

FarmJames · 11-09-2014 11:08PM

Banjo String wrote: »

Fcuking hell. Every fetish is catered for these days.

Tell me more........

Take it easy there banjo. Road porn is basically what my wife affectionally refers to my love of new infrastructure projects in Ireland and abroad

Joe Doe · 11-09-2014 11:12PM

Italian ladies are fantastico!

Naples area sounds pretty bad, read the local mafiosa dumped totally lethal toxis all over the place just to make a few quick bucks, likely to affect health of generations over a significant catchment area.

Fratton Fred · 11-09-2014 11:12PM

Banjo String wrote: »

Fcuking hell. Every fetish is catered for these days.

Tell me more........

Is that why people go on about ****ing pot holes?

jimgoose · 11-09-2014 11:28PM

That fella, what was his name, he was so good at fashion they had to shoot him. Wasn't he Eye-tallan?

Esel · 11-09-2014 11:29PM

tl/dr Italy is a dump.

The Vatican otoh is squeaky clean.

LeinsterDub · 11-09-2014 11:45PM

Esel wrote: »

tl/dr Italy is a dump.

The Vatican otoh is squeaky clean.

Not exactly hard it's about 4 foot by 2 foot

The Diabolical Monocle · 12-09-2014 12:22AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Not exactly hard it's about 4 foot by 2 foot

thats enough space for a choir boy +1

DEFTLEFTHAND · 12-09-2014 01:03AM

Banjo String wrote: »

Op were you in naples during the garbage strike in 2011?

Seriously, I had to attend a wedding in sorrento in July... It was a right tip.

When is there not a garbage strike in Naples?

Kermit.de.frog · 12-09-2014 01:09AM

I went to Naples only a couple of years a go and couldn't believe it was in the EU it was such a poor terrible looking city and easily the most intimidating in Europe for visitors there. Pick pocketing and petty crime are the single biggest issues there.

Compared to the north of Italy the south has serious issues with crime, mafia and corruption. Anything south of Rome (though Rome itself is not great either) is mostly a complete mess.

Joe Doe · 12-09-2014 01:20AM

Heard also that in Naples, when the cruise liners dock for the day, the tourists have to be 'securely {but semi-discreetly} escorted' by the authorities around the sightseeing spots, just in case...
They're all head counted on the way back, just to make sure all heads are present.

Saying that the Italian accento is terrifico, have been meaning to learn, along with Portuguese, Swedish and a small dash of French all very pleasant. Other euro-lingos, well, not so much music to the ears.

Kermit.de.frog · 12-09-2014 01:24AM

Joe Doe wrote: »

Heard also that in Naples, when the cruise liners dock for the day, the tourists have to be 'securely {but semi-discreetly} escorted' by the authorities around the sightseeing spots, just in case...
They're all head counted on the way back, just to make sure all heads are present.

That is true. But you really have to go there and it won't take you long to understand why.

Best thing to do is not go in to Naples in my opinion. Avoid it like the plague. It is not worth the hassle and the constant looking over the shoulder. It is a dangerous place and not for the ill at ease.

Pawn · 12-09-2014 01:25AM

I used to live and work in Sicily. Ask.

kowloon · 12-09-2014 01:37AM

Celly Smunt wrote: »

and "Romani ite domum" all over the place.

Uhmmm.

Muahahaha · 12-09-2014 02:55AM

The OP makes a fair point. I remember being at the Collusseem in Rome a few years back and marvelling at the structure it is. And then you get up close to it and go inside and there is rubble lying everywhere and weeds growing left, right and centre. It really surprised me that probably their most iconic building wasnt all that well kept.

Pawn wrote: »

I used to live and work in Sicily. Ask.

Did you ever have to pay any bribes for silly sh1t? A mate of mine lived in southern Italy for a bit and was renting a small flat. The washing machine sprung a leak one day and the landlord sent out a plumber, at the landlords cost. Nonetheless the plumber wouldnt do any work until the my mate had greased his hands with €20. My mate didnt come across it again but said he heard the practice of having to pay little bribes just to get services can be common enough. Not sure how accurate it is as he only lived there for a few months.

Esel · 12-09-2014 02:58AM

So, "See Naples and die" is still good advice then? Possible problem from the east? Organised gangs maybe?

The Beatles had a song about it - back in the union or something like that. Josef Broz's legacy was ethnic killing. Ceausescu's, otoh, was much more subtle.

spiralism · 12-09-2014 04:00AM

Kinda agree with the OP...Italy is beautiful but could be so much more so, it's quite grubby and what i personally couldnt get over was the amount of graffiti, it was everywhere, new buildings and old. Very disappointing looking at historic buildings that have stood for hundreds of years at the very least and seeing them destroyed in the work of some gougers. From what i hear too this is totally widespread and the colosseum for one is completely covered in graffiti. Shame doesn't even cover it

Fozzie Bear · 12-09-2014 06:52AM

Italy is like any other country, good mixed with the bad. I got married over there, been on countless holidays there and seen and driven an awful lot of it, both Autostrada and Strada Regionale or worse!.

By and large it is a clean enough country but there are just random spots where it looks like a back street from Mogadishu. For example we were in Sicily last year and driving down from Mount Etna from the Eastern side round to the Western side we drove past tipping sites at the side of the road. There were literally just random spots where people came and dumped their rubbish on the side of a country road. And there were mountains of it and nobody seems to bothered about it or cleaning it up. Empty or abandoned houses were also like a magnet for rubbish dumping (much the same as here in Ireland).

We have been to Naples too (shudder) and driven around it and my holy good God there is a place that needs to be completely bulldozed. Apparently the Mafia turned the entire city and its surrounds into a dump. They ran refuse scams in the North of Italy for years and took the rubbish from there and just dumped it around Naples and the countryside. The lands around the city are actually so toxic now that farmers can no longer grow crops there. You can google this, but its absolutely mind boggling the amounts of stuff that was dumped over the decades. Naples itself is just a kip. We walked out of the train station into down town Mogadishu. Its was filthy and there seemed to be more Africans than Italians selling crap and eyeing you up. Streets covered in rubbish, badly paved and just run down looking.

But overall Italy never struck me as a dirty country. I don't consider Ireland a dirty country and I could take you to several spots where there is illegal dumping going on along quiet country roads right now.

Italy, lovely country, shame about no respect for it

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