This year, the southern city's garbage crisis has become a recurring theme among the artists and craftsmen along the street, which is barely three meters wide.
And so it came to pass that the Madonna, St. Joseph and even the baby Jesus wear face masks to protect themselves from the stench of the uncollected garbage in Naples.
....
"I meant this to be a provocation to those who govern us. I don't think it's nice to put sacks of garbage in the manger near the baby Jesus but it was necessary," said Di Virgilio.
"We needed to get this message across," he said.
Gets your attention, all right. It seems the stench and sight of the garbage was not enough to get the mess cleaned up, although, according to the article, the historic city center is now clean. But surrounding neighborhoods are still piled with garbage.
From Reuters, which has as the main part of its story:
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may be alone in jail in London, but in the traditional Neapolitan Christmas creches he is in good company -- with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Assange, who is depicted holding his trusty lap top, was created by Gennaro Di Virgilio, who each year chooses at least one contemporary character to sculpt and place near the scenes of the traditional story of Jesus' birth in a manger.
"I included him to poke a little fun at the world and have a good time," said Di Virgilio, 29, whose family has been making nativity statuettes and ornate creches since 1830.
To me, the story of the Holy Family wearing face masks is far more fascinating.
Now _this_ is funny!!!!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I am so relieved. :-)
ReplyDelete" am so relieved." And your reply is sarcasm!
ReplyDeleteSusan, you're catching on, girl. And my reply is sarcasm, too. I'm forgetting how to talk straight - no, not that kind of straight. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
ReplyDelete... Hasn't Naples always had a garbage crisis? It has always been a messy, chaotic city and had a corrupt and inefficient local government, according to someone I know. That's not to say trying to tackle the problem is not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to go there, actually. The food is fabulous, apparently. Indeed, I did read somewhere that the reason some of the dishes have such a deep flavour is the pans are not ever scrubbed out. All of that could be a libel of course :-)
Cathy, I'd love to go to Naples, too.
ReplyDeleteHere in south Louisiana, we often use black iron cooking pots and pans. To keep the pots seasoned, we are advised not to use detergent on them, but I use a bit of detergent, and I scrub out what sticks to the pot.
I guess the scrubbings left in the pans in Naples get hot enough to kill the germs, even as deep flavor remains.
Yes, maybe it does work like that, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteCertainly the Italians know what they're doing when it comes to food.
wv - abbluti - don't abbluti your pans, it kills the flavour
God help the soul who would ever be so bold as to wash my grandmother's iron cornbread skillet. It was wiped out and reoiled with a bit of bacon fat to prevent rust. It was, as they say, "seasoned." Nothing ever stuck to it. I think of it as the original Teflon.
ReplyDeleteCookin' in them cast iron pots puts iron into yer system, don'tcha know.
ReplyDeleteAnd BooCat, I still have a cast iron skillet to cook the corn bread in. Yer granny was right! That's the only way to treat them. I use vegetable oil now, but bacon fat would give them that special sheen.
Amazing! No matter what the original topic of the post, the subject of food and cooking often creeps into the conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think of it as the original Teflon.
BooCat, yer Granny was right on the money. If properly seasoned and cared for, the finish on iron pots and pans is non-stick.
Susan, you know.