Italians Say Tourists Trashing Churches

Associated Press via Yahoo News ^ | Wed Jul 30, 3:17 PM ET | By FRANCES D'EMILIO

[Calpernia]

ROME - Visitors can no longer use the splendid entrance at Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major — it's sealed off because drunks and lovers had made it a hangout.

In Florence, Catholic officials complain that church steps are turning into latrines at night. Police in Venice plan to fine tourists for leaving lunch leftovers in the square outside St. Mark's Basilica.

Italy's churches draw millions of visitors each year, and anger is mounting over how some mistreat the nation's religious heritage.

Monsignor Timothy Verdon, on the staff at Florence's Duomo, or cathedral, held a news conference this week to denounce the lack of respect shown to that magnificent church.

"The millions of Italians and foreigners who come every year to admire the architecture and art and — many of them also to pray — must run through a kind of obstacle course," Verdon said.

He decried the dozens of souvenir vendors outside the cathedral's exit and the messy trash cans in the piazza, "which are already spilling over by midday."

Even worse, Verdon added, officials at several churches in Florence, a city renowned for grace and beauty, complain that the areas around their churches have been transformed into "open toilets."

"It's not the Florence you used to see, the drawing room of Europe," lamented Monsignor Angelo Livi, pastor at San Lorenzo church, the burial place of members of the princely Medici family and one of the churches cited in the cathedral's appeal for help.

"There's always more and more bums and tourists sleeping outside," Livi said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "The tourists sit on the steps and leave all the crumbs."

Buying a sandwich in a grocery store for lunch on a church's cool marble steps is a popular alternative to Italy's pricey trattorias and cafes.

Responding to the appeal for city authorities to clean up the mess around churches, Mayor Leonardo Domenici said Wednesday that Florence is no worse off than anywhere else in Italy.

Catholic officials in other cities have taken their own measures.

At St. Mary Major in central Rome, church authorities closed one of the basilica's two entrances a few years ago.

"We used to get all the drunks. There were even people making love," said Sandro Necciari, who works in the basilica's administration.

"Above all it was a rubbish problem. In the morning it was chaos," he said.

Rome used to "put a policeman there every now and then, but it's no good," Necciari added. "This is a Roman problem and think how many policemen you would need to guard all the monuments in Rome."

Italy's municipal and national budgets are chronically short of funds to care for the country's wealth of art and architecture.

Still, civil authorities in Venice plan to crack down outside the 9th century St. Mark's Basilica. They are posting signs warning that "people who picnic in the square and leave litter behind" will risk fines equivalent to $56.

"It's a precious place for all, and all have to preserve its beauty," said Federica Durigan, a city tourism official.

One place that has escaped tourist depredations is St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican (news - web sites).

St. Peter's Square sits in Vatican territory, and its spotless cobblestones reflect that special status. Visitors aren't allowed to sit down to eat in the square itself, although they generally are left in peace while eating sandwiches in the shade of Bernini's colonnade embracing the square.

[Calpernia]

I remember Oriana Fallaci mentioning this in her political writings. Except she didn't say it was tourists, she said it was specific ethnic groups.

[Semper Paratus]

Opy and Anthony moved to Italy?

[debg]

i also remember her writing about this. (marking their territory)

[Calpernia]

The article targets tourists; but, why would tourists have souvenir vendors outside the churches? That is NOT a tourist.

[arly]

this is a shame they should increase the fine to $500 and get peoples attention.

[Gennaro]

I was in Rome recently and was surprised by the increase
in graffiti and non-Italian street people. Sad.

[firebrand]

This is a problem on the steps of St. Patrick's in NYC too. People sit there to have lunch, in spite of the signs that used to be there but have been removed, probably because they were doing no good. They love to sit right next to the handrails--nice and cozy--which totally prevents people from using them as they go up or down the steps.

[LizardQueen]

I was just going to mention St.Patricks being a problem, too. I love that cathedral, have been visiting it when I'm in NYC since I was a child, but it's not a church anymore, it's a tourist attraction.

Last time I was there people were talking, eating, horsing around, and it was PACKED. I usually light a candle in front of one of the saints in honor of someone I knew who was lost in the Trade Center but there were so many people I couldn't even get over to that side of the church.

LQ

[firebrand]

Don't get me started on what goes on inside!

[PoisedWoman]

Yes, Fallaci railed against Muslims desecrating Catholic churches. I think I have her article bookmarked.

[Calpernia]

Then let's not leave out the Newark, NJ:

Church statues broken in wave of vandalism in Newark, N.J.

NEWARK, N.J. -- In a wave of vandalism, religious statues at several Newark Catholic churches and a hospital were damaged or destroyed in recent weeks. At St. Lucy's Church 13 statues were attacked the evening of Jan. 14. Three nights later the right hand was broken off the Sacred Heart statue outside Sacred Heart Cathedral. Early Jan. 12 staff at St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral discovered three statues damaged in the church courtyard. At St. Michael's Hospital, the head was lopped off a statue of St. Michael. Police Jan. 19 arrested a 20-year-old Newark man, Jamil Gadsen, and charged him with a Christmas Eve sledgehammer attack on a statue of Mary with the child Jesus outside St. Thomas Aquinas Church. A police spokesman said witnesses connected Gadsen with that attack. It was not reported to police, however, until the pastor, Father Raul E.L. Comesanas, learned of other attacks and realized it may not have been an isolated incident.

[Calpernia]

I have all of Oriana's writings bookmarked. And that is exactly what I was thinking of when I saw this newspiece.

[McGavin999]

These cities have to make some anti-litter and anti-loilter regulations and start enforcing them. The fines should be high enough to pay for the additional police.

[firebrand]

St. Lucy's, where my parents were married. Once in the heart of Newark's Little Italy.

[Calpernia]

Images were large, so I just put the link:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a14000/6a14000/6a14039r.jpg
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a07000/6a07700/6a07798r.jpg

Notice the light handingwriting at the lop rightish side, says 1912

[ELS]

Bump

[Dog Gone]

Still, civil authorities in Venice plan to crack down outside the 9th century St. Mark's Basilica. They are posting signs warning that "people who picnic in the square and leave litter behind" will risk fines equivalent to $56.

Oh brother. The pigeon crap is about two inches thick in front of that cathedral. Loose paper is an improvement.

[Calpernia]

Problem solved, anyone caught littering, cleans pigeon poop.

[Dog Gone]

Now that's a plan!