Naples, at the Royal Palace is a clash between the museum and... dog owners!

In Naples , a rather surreal clash is taking place around the Royal Palace: the museum is in fact at the center of citizens’ attentions for having placed a ban on dogs entering its gardens, according to a regulation established in 2021 but never entered into force. And a confrontation is also planned for today, between the “Qua la zampa” committee, which brings together dog owners who would like to have the ban removed, and the museum’s management: the appointment is in Piazza del Plebiscito, with a protest demonstration called by the committee.

For the committee, the choice would be unacceptable. Explaining the owners’ reasons is Francesco Emilio Borrelli, a Neapolitan deputy of the Green and Left Alliance, who decided to take to the square together with the dog owners. “The Royal Palace is forbidden to dogs, but there is free access to cars that turn the monumental gardens into a wild parking lot,” Borrelli argues. “A paradoxical decision and absolutely, and shamefully, unfair. One should perhaps fine those uncivilized dog owners who do not pick up the excrement, but one cannot think of punishing everyone for someone’s faults. Instead, to protect what is a historic asset of the city, think about the issue of cars that there are really too many of them coming in and long parked. The area designated for car parking could be designated for animals and in this way we could give real decorum to the monumental site that has always been frequented by animals and certainly was not born as a garage for privileged people.”

The director of the Royal Palace, Mario Epifani, confirmed readiness for dialogue and confrontation as long as the views of both sides are expressed. This is his position: “As highlighted several times, the Romantic Garden is not a public space, but open to the public. A historic garden is a place of culture whose protection and preservation is entrusted to the Ministry and can be regulated by hours and modes of use. As the director of the Royal Palace, I have the duty to independently protect the spaces of the museum’s indoor and outdoor itinerary, among which the gardens are included, and to abide by the Cultural Heritage Code (Legislative Decree 42/2004). Moreover, the regional regulation of 2021 (as stated in Article 5 paragraph 5) also gives us this power.”

According to Epifani, in fact, the size of the gardens of the Royal Palace unfortunately makes it difficult for garden goers, dog owners, children and tourists to coexist . “Unfortunately, despite the elasticity shown in these two years since the regulation has been in force,” Epifani pointed out, “many continue to frequent the space, leaving their animals free to run and ’scamper,’ dig holes in the flower beds, and even not to pick up droppings. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the supervisory staff is not authorized to impose penalties on those who commit such transgressions.”

The Royal Palace “cannot take responsibility for the city’s shortage of spaces dedicated to dogs,” the museum explains in a note: moreover, almost all historic gardens in Naples, Campania and even Italy prohibit access to animals (the Royal Palace enumerates the cases of Villa Floridiana, Villa Pignatelli, Reggia di Caserta, Quirinale Gardens, the Boboli Gardens). “As for what concerns, instead, the access of cars and the relative parking,” Epifani concludes, “the responsibility is shared with the directors of the various institutes that are based in the monumental complex and must be managed and agreed upon in a choral manner.”

In the photo: the Romantic Garden of the Royal Palace of Naples

Naples, at the Royal Palace is a clash between the museum and... dog owners!

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