1. Litter: It’s everywhere- on the street, along the road, in the countryside.
And even though trash receptacles are found on city streets or along the beach, they are frequently filled and garbage spills out onto the ground.
At least there are no strikes by the municipal trash collectors! Every morning (except Sunday) they can be spotted on the narrow streets picking up either recyclables or garbage.
2. Cigarette smoking (vaping seems to be less popular): The prevalence of smoking in the USA is thankfully decreasing with around 15% of the population still “lighting up”. Although there has been a noticeable decline in the past couple of decades, the smoking prevalence in Italy remains one of the highest in developed countries with smokers comprising around 21.5% of adults. Smoking is seen as a “social activity”, and unlike in the USA, it is still accepted across the generations. Smoking has been banned in public places and in restaurants and bars since 2005, but this has not significantly impacted the amount of tobacco consumption. And interestingly, the percentage of women who smoke has actually increased, tripling from around 6% in 1957 to almost 18% fifty years later.
3. “Creative parking”: When there isn’t a parking spot available, the Italian way is to improvise, i.e. double park
or just pull the car at an angle into the “too small” parking spot, leaving the back end of the car jutting out in the street.
4. Graffiti everywhere: It’s on buildings, park benches, train cars, utility boxes, anywhere that provides a “blank canvas”. Some of it is quite imaginative (or even cute)
whereas most graffiti (plural) are downright ugly.
Of course there is street art (otherwise known as murals), but that is a completely different thing.
5. The “migrant situation”: This really is not a fault of Italy. Due to its location, this country (along with Greece) has become a portal for refugees fleeing poverty and religious and political oppression in their native countries. Italy has received little, if any, assistance from the European Union to deal with the immigrant crisis. Although Salerno seems to be less affected than larger cities like Rome and islands like Sicily, immigrants predominantly from Africa can be seen on the streets hawking counterfeit “designer” handbags, sunglasses, and cheaply made toys.
6. Stray (feral) animals, predominantly dogs in archeological sites. It’s heart breaking to see these poor animals that were abandoned by owners or poor feral creatures that have never had a home.
In Greece, the hoards of feral cats and dogs are captured, sterilized, treated for disease and then released, with one ear clipped to identify that they were treated. And little old Greek ladies commonly put out food for the local strays. Of course, we have a problem with unwanted cats and dogs in the USA, but it is not so common to see so many wandering the street and historic sites.
Certainly Italians LOVE their pet dogs, but they seem to not get the male dogs neutered from what I have observed.
Camino Musings 