Rome in Ruins
nytimes.com
Rome in Ruins
1–10 of 92 posts
Re: Rome in Ruins
#2It's not just Rome, I saw this in other Italian cities as well. The tourist areas are well-manicured, naturally, but the outskirts of many Italian cities are crumbling. Infrastructure is generally outdated and poorly designed, if not actively falling apart. The Italy of postcards and travel videos is a far cry from the Italy most Italians live in.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#3Like San Francisco then.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#4It's not just Rome, I saw this in other Italian cities as well. The tourist areas are well-manicured, naturally, but the outskirts of many Italian cities are crumbling. Infrastructure is generally outdated and poorly designed, if not actively falling apart. The Italy of postcards and travel videos is a far cry from the Italy most Italians live in.
Not to mention that Italy is fast on the way to becoming - if not already there - a mafia state. Reading Roberto Saviano's Gomorra opened my eyes as to how machine-like in its efficiency and hydra-like in its resiliency organized crime in Italy is with numerous sectors of the Italian state under the direct control of the mafia [1].
Combined with the economic outlook, this doesn't bode well for the future.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/mafia-toxic-waste-and-a-d...
Re: Rome in Ruins
#5It's not just Rome, I saw this in other Italian cities as well. The tourist areas are well-manicured, naturally, but the outskirts of many Italian cities are crumbling. Infrastructure is generally outdated and poorly designed, if not actively falling apart. The Italy of postcards and travel videos is a far cry from the Italy most Italians live in.
Spain is in the same situation, although maybe not so pronounced yet. It's a stark contrast to post-Soviet countries, which are relatively well maintained and seeing trash dumped is practically unheard of.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#6This is how I see New York City. Living there I was so used to it, then I went to San Diego for a wedding, couldn't believe my eyes when I saw people walking around outside barefoot. Because everything was clean, why not? Everyone else wore sandals, I was the only one wearing shoes.
I came back to NYC early Monday morning, rode the subway from JFK and had to walk through Times Square to get where I was going. Times Square on a Monday morning, cleaning up from the weekend, is so gross. Of course trash, also urine and vomit and food smashed into everything, broken glass, etc. Of course all that and more in the subway, and rats here and there. The wind tunnels that are the streets blowing the detritus in your eyes, basically aerosolized rat feces. Stepping over little rivers of dog, or even human, urine was routine anywhere. And this is Manhattan, one of the greatest concentrations of wealth anywhere.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#7I’ve thought for a while now that there is a special depravity to things like littering that makes them worse than, for example, small-time theft.
At least the thief has a rational reason to steal and gains from his crime roughly what he has taken from another. The litterer by comparison gains so little but does so much harm.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#8I’ve thought for a while now that there is a special depravity to things like littering that makes them worse than, for example, small-time theft. At least the thief has a rational reason to steal and gains from his crime roughly what he has taken from another. The litterer by comparison gains so little but does so much harm.
I get the impression theft usually pays the thief a lot less than the value of the loot -- they have to fence it, etc. You could view that as a quibble about profit-sharing, but OTOH in the bigger picture theft is highly negative-sum because of the costs around prevention and the thief's extra work in overcoming it (and other costs). So theft actually is rather like littering in this way.
Re: Rome in Ruins
#9This is how I see New York City. Living there I was so used to it, then I went to San Diego for a wedding, couldn't believe my eyes when I saw people walking around outside barefoot. Because everything was clean, why not? Everyone else wore sandals, I was the only one wearing shoes. I came back to NYC early Monday morning, rode the subway from JFK and had to walk through Times Square to get where I was going. Times S…
Yeah I was in NYC for the first time this year and I was impressed by the filth and general dilapidation. The subways are exceptionally dirty, and the stations/trains along the A line seemed to be in advanced decay.
It’s nowhere as bad as Chicago though ;P
Re: Rome in Ruins
#10I’ve thought for a while now that there is a special depravity to things like littering that makes them worse than, for example, small-time theft. At least the thief has a rational reason to steal and gains from his crime roughly what he has taken from another. The litterer by comparison gains so little but does so much harm.
The saddest thing I've seen this year was a family waiting for the path train at 33 street and the (I assume parents drop some trash in the floor and yell at one of the kids who proceeded to pick up after the adults. Like not only are these adults actively littering, they are penalizing their children for trying to clean up after them. I wish I could say these people were tourists but sadly I have a feeling they're a product of our communities in the greater New York City area.