Naples approves one-way pedestrian traffic on congested street

He represents A “Danger to public and private safety” according to the Council of Naples. Via San Gregorio Armeno, famous for its santon shops, is one of the busiest streets in the historic center of the “City of 500 Domes”. As a result, some pedestrians sometimes find themselves in the middle literally trapped in a crowd unable to get out “, – assures this same CNN board. On December 3, by order of the municipality, a one-way pedestrian traffic system was launched.

Specifically, walkers should enter the street via Via San Biagio Dei Librai and go up via San Gregorio Armeno to Via dei Tribunali. San Gregorio Armeno can therefore only be crossed in one direction in order to provide more efficient mobility on the street, the municipality notes. Another news: if the crowd is too strong, the police can completely block the passage.

In detail, this circulation mode will operate every weekend and Sunday in December, in specific time slots (from 9 am to 9 pm) until December 23. On the 24th, this rule will only apply from 9am to 3pm. In fact, he is not at all unknown to the Neapolitans. Authorities had already implemented similar traffic conditions on this street in 2020 and 2021 to enforce social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Visitor numbers explode at Christmas

Apart from Neapolitans. the historic heart alone concentrates a quarter of the city’s million inhabitants, this event also attracts tourists. And for good reason. The many craft shops making figurines for Christmas nativity scenes attract thousands of people to Via San Gregorio Armeno at the end of each year. Visitor numbers, already high in normal times, exploded.

And 2022 should not be an exception to the rule. Il Mattino The local daily reports that hotels in the Campania capital were 80% occupied on the first weekend of December. Immaculate Conception Day, this December 8, is even expected to be “sold out”. All this in the background of the explosion of tourism in Naples in 2022.