Foggia

July 22, 2014

The south of Italy looks somewhat down-and-out.

It has many things in common with Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

You wouldn’t immediately identify this as Europe.

It’s closer to somewhere like Yugoslavia in spirit.

But then you come across a trash can standing in the middle of a beautiful sidewalk with multiple types of paving, and it becomes clear that this is bona fide Europe.

There are special trash cans for medical waste outside the pharmacies. Presumably, the common belief here is that addicts shoot up right on the pharmacy’s doorstep.

A bus stop.

A curb-less street for vehicles and pedestrians. There’s nowhere to park your car here, you can only drive through. A camera watches over the street from the pole in the center.

Due to lack of money, the street name plaques aren’t made of marble here—they’re simply drawn on the walls.