Surprise union action that left angry visitors stranded outside Pompeii Friday stoked a fresh row into the management of the ancient Roman site.
Labour strife again came to the fore as one of the bugbears of the ancient Roman city along with structural frailties, service dysfunction, shut-off homes and other long-running problems like stray dogs and the possible infiltration of the local Camorra mafia.
Tourists were shocked by the sudden closure of the archaeological site to visitors, due to a meeting of trade unions.
Reports said that long lines of frustrated visitors snaked around the entry gates, which were closed at 9 a.m. for a meeting of members of the CISL, UNSA, FILP and FP unions.
The meeting, which lasted all morning, may be followed by a similar huddle Saturday.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the action had caused "incalculable damage" to Pompeii by alienating visitors. "This hurts the unions, the rights of workers and especially harms their country," he said.
The closure was a "low blow", Pompeii Superintendent Massimo Osanna told reporters after personally intervening to get the site open again.
He said unions were guilty of "behaviour that is disrespectful towards hundreds of tourists" who had come to admire "a unique heritage that Italy has the great fortune to possess. "Despite my utmost amenability towards dialogue and meeting the unions' demands, the site stayed shut this morning, breaching the guarantees I had received," Osanna said.
Even the most leftwing of Italy's three main labour federations, CGIL, condemned the closure.
CGIL accused unions representing Pompeii staff of "damaging the image of Campania and of one of the most important archaeological sites in the world".
Franco Tavella, secretary general of CGIL in Campania, said that CGIL has often distanced itself from such actions that it believes harms visitors and the reputation of the site.
The unexpected closure makes Italy look like a fool on the global stage, the president of Naples' Chamber of Commerce Maurizio Maddaloni said.
"Even the Parthenon in the height of the Greek crisis did not close its doors to tourists," Maddaloni said. "We are making a fool of ourselves on the world stage and once again those that pay are the uninformed tourists and travel businesses that organise tours and excursions in one of the most visited places in our country." Maddaloni said Pompeii could be one of Italy's strongest selling points, but he said its image had been spoilt by years of neglect.
"On one hand, the government needs to develop a strategy to prevent sudden closures of the site, and on the other hand, unions and workers need to assume their responsibilities," he said.
But the workers, surprisingly, ended their meeting by saying they had decided to work more for lower pay as a form of "reverse protest".
Workers for the supervision body of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, an institute of Italy's culture and tourism ministry, said they have decided to work for less money than employees of a regional Campania body which is in charge of night openings at the ancient Roman city.
"We are going to hold a reverse protest: instead of remaining closed, we will work more and be paid less. Let's see if that way the ministry will listen to us," said CISL union representative Antonio Pepe.
The latest blow to Pompeii's image came less than a week after one of its most iconic symbols, a mosaic of a barking dog bearing the Latina label Cave Canem (Beware of the Dog), was unveiled after a long restoration.
One of the world's most famous dogs, the snarling, black-and-white mosaic canine has been seen as a guardian of Pompeii.
With his black hair, curled form, and bared teeth, the ancient dog has stood ready for almost 2,000 years to discourage intruders from setting foot in the Domus of the Tragic Poet.
Now, this universal symbol of the city that was preserved under the ash of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD has been restored and returned to the public eye in the archaeological remains of Pompeii.
Years of rain, mud, dirt and neglect were gradually cleaned away to bring him back to public viewing just in time for the dog days at the end of July.
The work on the mosaic canine is just one in a series of measures aimed at restoring and protecting Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for future generations, said Culture Minister Franceschini.
In a post on his Twitter feed, he wrote: "Offered to the public the splendid new staging of Cave Canem".
"(At) #Pompei, every day a proud step forward," wrote the minister.
The canine mosaic is now protected beneath a transparent cover designed to allow full public viewing of the mosaic mutt, with his great sense of movement as well as the realism and attention to detail that has made it one of the world's best known of the Pompeian masterpieces.
Other restored works as well as extended tourist routes through the archaeological site should also be offered soon, officials suggested.
Work has been continuing at Pompeii, which for decades was neglected and even plundered due to slack security and poor protection.
At some points, the United Nations even threatened to withdraw its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation unless adequate money was invested to restore and protect Pompeii.
But, slowly things seem to be turning around.
In March Pompeii's largest house - Villa dei Misteri, famous for its frescoes of the cult of Bacchus - reopened after a two-year restoration and a three-month closure for work on its paving.
"We have behind us a year of extraordinary work," Franceschini said at that time.
"We have closed three work sites while another 13 have been opened, nine contracts have been started and we have hired 85 people".
Almost precisely one year earlier, Franceschini pledged the Italian government would catch up on delays in restoring the Pompeii archaeological site and treat completing the ambitious 105-million-euro Great Pompeii Project as a "national challenge".
"The challenge of Pompeii is a challenge for the nation," Franceschini said, reiterating the importance of the Great Pompeii Project, aimed at safeguarding the unique site.
The European Commission, involved in funding the project, has insisted that the restoration work must be completed by the end of 2015.
There is some urgency.
In April 2014, heavy rains led to several reports of collapsed walls at the Pompeii site, soon after UNESCO warnings that the miraculously preserved ancient city could "completely fall apart" and lose its world heritage status unless urgent action was taken.
Looking on the bright side Friday, Franceschini tweeted that famous ballet dancer Roberto Bolle is due to perform at Pompeii's 'Grand Theatre' on Saturday.
"That is a cause of great pride," he tweeted.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
