Crumbling Pompeii site in "state of emergency"

And in other breaking news, this just in - Reuters reports: Ocean Still Wet! Film at eleven. Now, over to Tiffany with some tips on how to keep your frozen foods fresh-tasting for months. Tiffany?....

We thought the stray dogs and piles of garbage(outside Pompeii) were part of the "cultural experience of travelling." Besides, we liked our "unofficial" tour guide Mariano. And the illegal parking attendants looking for protection money were much worse in Caserta and Herculaneum than they were in Pompeii.

I read the same article in my local newspaper re Pompeii.
I was there in November and also enjoyed the stray dogs. Several tourists were handing out goodies to the dogs - so I know why they hand around.

I didn't notice any poor upkeep. The ruins looked well protected and somewhat preserved. But, it looked like a typical ruin to me (I am just a tourist.)
We had a pre arranged guide Gaetano - and he was great.

We were told that most of Pompeii has not been uncovered yet and is still to be excavated....so perhaps they methods and preservation will be done differently.
It was a spectacular place to visit and I'm glad I was able to see it. We also saw many of the original mosaics and statues in the museum in Naples.
Frances

Patrick, thanks for posting that. I was in Pompeii earlier this year, and didn't hear any mention at all about this situation. Hopefully they can get it sorted, as it's such an important historical site.

Cheers!

One unfortunate tendency of the Italians is that they don't do a particularly good job of upkeep on their historical sites, although they're far from alone in this regard (see: Greece among others), so this is no shock.

I'm reminded of my trip to see Machu Picchu a few years ago in Peru. We took a bus up a winding gravel road to the top of the mountain, bouncing in pot holes all the way. When we got to the archaeological site, we just got off the bus, walked down a short sidewalk, and we were in.

The place is the biggest tourist attraction in the country, bringing in millions of dollars a year, and you get there on a bad gravel road. Of course, that just adds to the feeling that you're in an exotic place, but I was surprised they hadn't spent a little more money on the place.

In the US, you'd get there by traveling a 1st class highway, then at the top you'd enter a huge educational museum and orientation center, see a short informational film, then the theater doors would swing open to reveal a perfect panorama of Machu Picchu.