Where is the Boundary Between Rustic and Dirty?

"Napoli is a bit rough around the edges, but beneath the hassle and bustle is a vibrant city of good food and good people," so the many travel vloggers say about southern Italy's largest city. The disclaimer is highly warranted. After all, the city is known for having produced several well-known mafia groups that, in the decades past, managed to turn the city into a den of street crime. While northern Italy turned its historical and cultural sights into a tourist boom and endearing image of fashionability, Napoli was largely avoided despite its equally illustrious offerings.

Thankfully, as mafiosos now turn to cybercrime for a greater part of their incomes, the city is reportedly safer and finally getting its own share of international tourists. The classic view of Mount Vesuvius and the Mediterranean from the hills overlooking the port, combined with day trips to the well-preserved Roman ruins of Pompeii and the scenic Amalfi coast, used in countless movies, is proving to be enough of a draw that the lingering grittiness of its city center can no longer deter the adventurous. In response, many entrepreneurs, shopowners, and restaurateurs have jumped on the tourism bandwagon.

No doubt, many are mentally prepared for the "roughness around the edges," but seeing the physical manifestation of that euphemism can still be overwhelming. The city's stone-paved streets are strewn with garbage and excrement, much of which is from the legions of homeless occupying the sidewalks beneath centuries-old stone buildings. Public services seem to fall behind, as young street sweepers struggle against the mountains of trash, the stones paving the streets buckle under constant motor vehicle traffic, and their cracks fill with wastewater of all origins.

Amidst the smell of urine, walls full of graffiti, and the occasional used syringes on the ground, people of all skin colors sell all sorts of wares on the streets, ranging from cheap knick-knacks representing the city's culinary and soccer traditions, to knock-off handbags and sunglasses that can quickly be picked up and moved when the police patrol shows up. Vibrant? Sure. But the flabbergasted faces of foreign tourists that occasionally wander into their midst and stick out like sore thumbs illustrate that all this is unexpected, and not in a good way. 

Many will come away from their encounters not with the impressions that Napoli would want from first-time visitors. Yes, they will talk in euphemisms about the energy of the city that is not often too polished. But underneath the cautiousness of the narrative, they would imply that the city, despite the gradual dissipation of the crime-ridden reputation, remains not for the faint-hearted. Experiencing the authenticity of everyday life in such a place requires overlooking so truly unsavory details, and many people would not be prepared.

Napoli is certainly not the only place that suffers from the affliction of negative impressions. Unfortunately, adventurous travelers remain a minority in the global tourism market. Many want to temporarily escape from the grittiness that already defines their everyday lives by seeing something beautiful, modern, and heartwarming. They want to feel safe, established through a well-structured and meticulously cleaned physical environment, since they already feel vulnerable enough being in places where they know little of the local language, culture, people, and customs.

Within this reality, getting visitors to accept straight-up dirtiness will appeal in the short term to an increasingly small group of the well-heeled, who are privileged enough to want to experience something disgusting because their own regular lives are already so polished. If Napoli and "rough-around-the-edges" places want to sustain an economic boom on the back of mass tourism, then it really needs to do better to clean up the streets of their various shock factors. Only then will the word of mouth bring in more visits, not turn them off. 

In the department of historical and cultural beauty, every locale has plenty of competition, not just from places in the same country that provide similar offerings, but also from entirely different places worldwide that claim to be culturally "better," for lack of a better word. Napolitanos offer warmth, great food, and architectural heritage. But so do many other places. Why not really invest in giving the city a visual makeover so that there is minimal reason for the potential tourist to choose somewhere else instead?