Column: Rome, city of garbage

It's hot in Italy. sweltering hot. It's been about nothing else for weeks. On the radio, the television in the newspapers… And also on the street and in the bar it is 'fa caldo' (it's hot) and 'con questo caldo non si riesce a lavorare' (you can't work with this heat) more to think about. Garbage and garbage is piled high in the city, it starts to smell and there are more and more mice and rats.

A stark contrast to a month and a half ago when it was still raining and cold and people were 'crazy about the humidity and the cold' and that 'summer really had to start now'. In that sense, it's never really good.

Frankly, I always have to laugh at the Italian lament. Then it's too hot, then it's too cold. If I have to believe a friend of mine in Rome, it used to be different, when the winters were very mild and the summers had dry heat. Summers are a lot hotter these days.

In addition to the liters of water you have to drink and walk in the shade as much as possible (and in some cases think about blood pressure), the heat has a great effect on the daily rhythm. Even I, who always race through the streets at 120mph to appointments, slow down and take the day more as it comes. After all, it's July and in a few weeks the august month and nothing more is needed. You just don't want to arrive soaking wet with sweat at your appointments.

Garbage

The disadvantage of these hot days is that you get quite tired. Often after lunch (when I work at home) I would ideally lie down and then work longer in the evening. Like what people still do. And understandable, because often your eyes close spontaneously and they really only open again after more than an hour.

But that heat also brings a lot of misery with it. The situation in Rome is very bad at the moment. As we speak, Vladimir Putin is visiting Rome and since Italy cannot receive the president of Russia in a filthy city, the municipality has cleaned the streets. Only where Putin comes by.

Have you recently seen that report by RTL Nieuws about the waste heaps in Rome? The periphery and Trastevere are smelly and full of rubbish heaps, which is not good for health and attracts a lot of vermin, because the waste processing companies are at odds with each other. And thus the problem is again a political problem.

hypocritical

This morning I was sitting with a good friend of mine, Alessandro, at the coffee in the bar around the corner and we saw the images of a taut Rome pass us by. Alternately, we felt ashamed and also got a little angry at the hypocrisy.

'Well,' says Alessandro, 'where would they have put all that waste? This sounds a bit like your house is in a mess and your parents then announce that they are coming over. Then you quickly put everything in a cupboard and lock the door. When they come in, you hope they don't open that closet. Perhaps they just dumped the full bags two blocks away or on the periphery. What a ridiculous course of action.' Indignantly, he puts his coffee cup down on the saucer.

Next to us, a man joins in the conversation: 'They should land Putin on Ciampino, then he can immediately see where there is more waste,' he grumbles. 'And then he also sees the Roman CampYou know, that other project that the municipality of Rome has failed to solve. Hypocritical stuff this!' He greets us and walks away.

Caput Mundic

I look at the images a bit despondent. I have the Via della Conciliazione never seen so clean and my mind wanders to the images of RTL Nieuws. To the gentleman who refused to pay his waste tax and now risks a fine. The gentleman who was openly concerned about the health of his grandchildren.

I can totally understand that he doesn't want to pay more. Why should he pay taxes if nothing is really done about it and the garbage heaps keep getting bigger and bigger? The problem has been going on for a while.

When will the decay stop?

Over the years, a 'downhill' image of Italy has been created in the Netherlands. That picture is of course not entirely correct. But we do see the major consequences of poor management of a country and of local municipalities.

A few years ago, we were still talking about the Naples garbage and the mafia practices behind it. Now it really is about a poorly functioning municipal council of a bankrupt city.

As a thorn in the side of many Italians, maintenance is being carried out less and less because there is no money. More and more heritage is bought and renovated by foreign companies and investors, because the municipality and the government can no longer finance it. Roads are not maintained, trees fall over And then there's the matter of garbage.

I think it's paradoxical, because many Italians don't roll up their sleeves themselves either. They do complain. And a lot, because actually it is never good. Apart from the garbage, they live in the most beautiful country in the world and yet they are not satisfied.

Hopefully the tide will turn and the Italians will intervene in time, so that Rome can be a real one again Caput Mundic can become.