“Bari? Beautiful…but it’s dirty and there are some streets where you can smell a nauseating stench.” Two tourists visiting the Apulian capital told Borderline24. So much beauty, but also so much degradation that lies hidden in the streets of the city where, just go beyond the city centre, almost always festively adorned, to come across dirty pavements, waste, open-air landfills and bad smells.
While the two talk about their experience in Bari we are, in particular, in the Capruzzi extramural area. “This city is wonderful – they explain – there is the sea, there are beautiful people and the food is excellent. We have certainly gained a few extra kilos in a few days, but it is a real shame that in some streets, especially on hot days, there are bad smells and there is so much dirt. It’s not like this everywhere, in other European cities the streets far from the center are beautiful in the same way as those, if we want to say more important” – they highlight.
But they are not the only ones to denounce dirt and decay in the city streets. Several times the same citizens had highlighted problems relating to some areas, such as for example Via Dante which towards the center appeared “clean and tidy”, while moving towards the heart of the Libertà district it becomes dirtier, with the stench of urine, feces of volatile and uncivilized. Not just Via Dante, many streets have been “incriminated” over the years. According to some it is a problem that concerns the incivility of citizens, according to others it is a problem linked to the absence of ordinary cleaning.
“We do our part – said a citizen – and I take responsibility too, but it’s not just our fault. There are some streets where you cannot set foot, the pavements are soaked in pigeon feces or are open-air urinals, not to mention the streets where waste remains for months or where things remain broken or dirty for a long time. The city center is beautiful, thank goodness, but if you go further into it the situation gets worse. The city does not belong only to tourists, but to those who live there. And in any case, for tourists who enter certain streets, it is not a pretty sight” – he concludes.
