The ban on dogs in the historic gardens of the Royal Palace in Naples has been confirmed. Indeed, the Campania Regional Administrative Court has rejected an appeal by a group of citizens against the ban ordered in 2021 in the museum’s regulations, but which was made enforceable last October. Dog owners with their four-legged friends had in fact gathered in October in Piazza del Plebiscito for a protest demonstration called by the “Qua la zampa” committee: the goal was in fact the removal of the ban. A heated debate had been sparked around the issue in the city, and an appeal had been filed with the Tar. According to the committee, that of the Royal Palace management was a “paradoxical and unjust decision.”
Theorder of the Tar that rejected the appeal specifies that the appeal cannot be upheld as the ban was justified “because of the need to avert risks to the safety of visitors, damage to the gardens and piperno pillars dating back to the 17th century, damage to greenery and stone materials,” and because of the “character of the historic garden of the affected property soon to be the subject of restoration work.”
“The Tar’s order underscores the importance of the Romantic Garden as a place of culture that needs to be preserved and respected more than a normal public garden,” commented the director of the Royal Palace of Naples Mario Epifani. "It is an en plein air museum usable by all as is each of the rooms of the Royal Palace, in which we could never imagine the presence of dogs.“ ”With all due respect for animals,“ he added, ”we are bound to have greater attention to such a valuable asset. We are working to ensure that the garden regains the image it had when the palace was still a royal residence, with the care of trees that are more than 200 years old and through the reconfiguration of the nineteenth-century shrub planting. A project, on which 2 million euros will be invested, that includes the resurfacing of the avenues in beaten tuff, eliminating asphalt, to restore a jewel to be returned to the city, visitors and tourists, safely and with due decorum."
Pictured: the Romantic Garden of the Royal Palace of Naples.
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Naples, ban on dogs in historic gardens of Royal Palace upheld. Tar dismisses appeal |
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