Yesterday the owners of the stalls in Via Alveo - the entrance to the excavations at Herculaneum - were told to suspend their activities. This morning they are shut. But they're not moving, even though they've been told to shift their stalls into the adjacent parking area.
The mayor of Ercolano claims that the move is designed to ensure the safety of visitors, but the stall owners see it as a political move, an attempt to drive them out to make way for other activities. You can read the full story here.
A blog for all those who work on Pompeii and the other archaeological sites of the Bay of Naples.
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Just to give you more details that perhaps aren't covered in the newspapers:
the archaeological site has two entrances that give access to vehicles - Via Alveo (with the stalls), and Via Mare (secondary staff entrance). Recently the Comune started essential works in Via Mare, including installing much needed drains/sewers which has led to the road being closed - and therefore no vehicular access to the site from that side. This means that any vehicles have to come through Via Alveo - and with the stalls in place larger vehicles, including ambulances and heavy vehicles involved in maintenance and conservation work, can't get through. Obviously the Soprintendenza and the Comune have had to find a temporary solution while the Via Mare works continue - and the solution was to move the stalls into the adjacent car park. The idea being that the stall owners still get access to the large majority of visitors who enter from Via Alveo, but that emergency vehicles in particular can enter the site when necessary, and normal site works are not delayed for months.
It's sad to see the stall owners don't understand this situation, as they were warned over a month ago, but perhaps faith in local politicians isn't very strong in Ercolano...
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