Free watches in Naples! Well..... let's see.

Mante · Joined: 13 Mar 2006 Posts: 13

Facts: Naples is a beautiful city, rich of history, with great weather and delicious food. Plus outstanding surroundings like Capri, Ischia, Positano, Ravello, ecc. And ingenious, joyful and resourceful people. Right, its people. Some of them, a tiny small minority, are probably too resourceful. So much that sometimes they have nothing better to do than stealing watches to unaware tourists. What the local Administration has come up with is (in a few words) this: in order to let holidaymakers have a trouble-free time, hotels and alike will soon start offering free watches, so that guests can leave their Rolex in their safes and walk along the streets of Naples without worrying about their precious watches. They are obviously cheap ones (though the make is Swatch, a famous brand) and, this is funny, they display a pizza or the Vesuvio, the volcano on the outskirts of the city. Now, coming to the point, there is some kind of controversy around this subject. On one side it is positive to do something to let people have a pleasant stay while on the other it is a bit embarrassing for a concierge to say:” Welcome to Naples. You can visit Castel dell’Ovo, the Certosa of San Martino, the Museum of Capodimonte and enjoy the best pizza on earth. Also, please accept this watch as a gift so you can leave yours in your safe and walk freely along the streets”.

Last, but not least. Please do not misunderstand this post. I did not want to give a distorted image of Naples which is a city that I adore under most of its points of views. I would actually like to encourage people to visit more parts of southern Italy that are often underrated but rich in history, having experienced, through the centuries, the Greek, Roman, Arab, Normans, and Spanish colonization. The purpose was just to let people know about this decision by the local Administration, which has caused some kind of controversy in Italy, and possibly find other points of view about it.