Tourism and the image of Italy – cities of crime

ITALY (eTN) – “Milan capital of theft, Florence receiving stolen property” is the title of two columns that appeared on the front page of the prestigious Italian daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera.” In a documented and courageous investigation of journalists signed by Davide Casati, Andrea Marinelli, Claudio Del Frate, and Andrea Pasqualetto, the story occupies two whole pages of the chronicles quoting – in addition to Milan and Florence – Isernia, Prato, Biella, Trieste, Matera, and Ravenna.

While it must be said that the worldwide success of the Expo has undoubtedly contributed to the growth of Italian tourism – while confining it in third place after Spain and France – it must be observed that the news on malfeasance strangling the republic from north to south with continuing reports of arrests for various scandals, is not making a good argument for the attractiveness of beautiful Italy – what Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar von Metternich-Winneburg-Beilstein, said of the country in 1813, and what Prince Metternich-Winneburg called the “Garden of Europe.”

The moral question is important to give certainty and quality to national tourism, estranging the country from the underworld organized vortex, which ticks without a precise geography and does not pay attention to time or the current regulations. Violence, corruption, thievery, the cliques of certain powers which attack the economy are all playing downward with the national interests, the same excessive bureaucracy that is paralyzing – not always disinterested – the administrative process of concessions and licenses slowing projects of territorial areas in search of future development that are the ingredients of a “question” that not only solves the laws or proclamations, but demands a clear desire to impress in the making of regions, municipalities, and the state apparatus.

Making attractive tourist investments and everything else in the peninsula really means fighting against obstacles and against the malaise produced by the mob which occupies whole sectors of production by recycling and freely acting apathetic with indifference that almost fell on the fate of the republic in the middle of a social crisis that is still far from resolved.

When it comes to reclaiming the army intervention to free cities like Naples, disturbed by centuries of an indigestible presence of foreign powers, but well-rooted in the tradition of evil, one cannot expect to pretend that the image of this beautiful and welcoming city at the foot of the Vesuvius volcano has been disfigured. The state must regain possession and full control of the territory, no ifs and/or buts. Zero tolerance must be employed to restore light and fresh air to the north and south districts of deadly pest-ridden gangs that often go unpunished or are even legendary because they seem to be unobtainable – this is not a joke/

Tourism demands a suitable and safe environment. All directors of public affairs and also the members of parliament should reflect on what Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Book IV, chapter 1 of “The Social Contract” wrote: “Finally, when the state, next to his own ruin, no longer exists in an illusory and empty form, when the social bond is broken in all hearts, and the meanest interest brazenly adorns the sacred name of the public good, then the general will becomes mute; all, guided by secret motives, no longer think as citizens, as if the State had never existed … “.

That’s why the state, that is, all of us, must change the registry and give it new investment opportunities in the country, and at the same time, daily life must seriously counter the underworld, as well as the police forces be strengthened, however incurred, with new means and with the growing solidarity of the entire Italian people. More must be done to restore dignity to the general will and the higher interests of the national community.

ART CITIES IN THE SIGHT OF THE UNDERWORLD

Once again, “Corriere della Sera” provided a bold synthesis of the crimes of Italy (ISTAT – Institute of Statistics Data) with the precise and rigorous analysis by the same journalists on the trend of crimes, allegations of theft, receiving stolen property, abductions, rapes, and murders in the cities of Turin, Milan, Rome, and Naples.

The map then highlights Biella, Novara, Isernia, Caltanisetta, and Livorno for insults; Bologna, Florence, Pescara, Foggia, and Siracusa for extortion; Trieste, Catania, Ancona, Ravenna, and Alessandria for exploitation of prostitution; Ravenna, Asti, Turin, Pavia, and Milan for burglary; Prato, Genoa, Catania, Naples, and Foggia to recycling; Isernia, Venice, Naples, Imperia, Brindisi for counterfeiting of brands and products; Nuoro, Crotone, Catania, Ragusa, and Naples for willful killings; Catania, La Spezia, Crotone, Biella, Bologna, Venice, and Teramo for child pornography; Catania, Bologna, Caltanissetta, Teramo, and Pistoia for bank robberies; Reggio Calabria, Naples, Catania, Taranto, and Brindisi for criminal association; and Matera, Foggia, Catania, Livorno, Alexandria, and Pescara for HGV thefts.

This is the reality of Italy crime which is clear from the complaints made by ISTAT in 2014 that collected and processed for DataBlog the prestigious “Corriere della Sera” by David Mancino. This list is breathtaking, because the statistics are not an opinion: we want to believe that Italy is different, it’s better than this dramatic synthesis, because to sell abroad this kind of Italy with an image damaged by reports on ill repute is not easy. It simply just has to stop.