Naples, the mayor: “It was beautiful, it’s a responsible city”

by our correspondent Valerio Piccioni

May 5th
– Naples

Piazza del Plebiscito, 9 am, the waste collectors are at work after it was impossible to clean up the city during the night: there is one wearing an old blue Pandev shirt. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi goes towards him, greets him, shakes his hand. He does the same to two soldiers a short distance away: “Thank you for everything you’ve done”. We are in front of the Gambrinus café, the most famous in Naples. But the mayor of the Scudetto must have already drunk a lot of cups. “I went to bed at a quarter past four, got up at half past five.” He is satisfied even if he knows that during the night there was the tragedy of a boy killed not far from the Central Station: “Let’s be careful not to give the wrong message, the party has nothing to do with it, it was a painful affair, an ambush, probably a settling of scores that exploited the confusion”.

All over the world

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Abdi also arrives, the Senegalese percussionist who has captured the attention of thousands of tourists and Neapolitans in the heart of Toledo with his music. “Mayor – he says wearing the Anguissa shirt -. I’ve been here for twenty years and I still don’t have a residence permit. I’m asking you for my children, I’ve never created a problem, everyone here knows me”. Manfredi promises that he will do something to study the case. Then he goes back to recounting the moment of awakening. “It was beautiful, the citizens were responsible, we experienced a huge popular representation with many families and children. And it was celebrated in Naples, but also in Rome, Milan, London, New York, Berlin, Madrid. Naples is a city ​​of sharing and has carried this sense of community all over the world. Even when he had little, he shared it with others”. There are already to prepare the next episodes of the party. “Now let’s enjoy this break. The team will return directly to Castelvolturno and then on Sunday there will be a big party at the Maradona stadium with a show and thanksgiving to the team”.

And now the Giro

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But the mayor is keen to grasp the message that this celebration can express: “Naples has changed, is changing and will change again. It is a city that does not live only on football even if football is an important component of its life”. And while the party continues we are already thinking about what will happen next week, precisely Thursday: “The Giro d’Italia will arrive on the seafront at the end of a wonderful route through Sorrento, Amalfi, Ravello and the Chiunzi pass”. In short, a way to combine the blue and tricolor of the Scudetto with the pink of the race.