If you're headed to Naples, Italy, any time soon, you might want to rethink your itinerary. City residents have been dealing with a garbage strike since December 21, and trash is piling up everywhere. The BBC, CNN and European news agencies report that protesters have set a local dump on fire and are clashing with local police.

To make matters worse, local residents, in desperation, are burning their garbage because there is nowhere to dispose of it. Italians generally bag their trash in plastic garbage sacks, so burning trash involves melting these bags and releasing poisonous fumes.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi announced a series of steps today to calm the city and get the trash disposal situation under control, according to the International Herald Tribune. These measures include appointing a special commissioner, building three garbage incinerators in the Naples area to dispose of tons of trash and asking other Italian regions to take some of Naples' refuse.

Protesters in the Pianura neighborhood have blocked access to a local landfill that the local government had planned to reopen. Protest activity has also caused traffic problems on the Tangenziale, Naples' cross-city highway, according to American military public affairs officials.

Visitors to Naples should avoid the Pianura area, which is northwest of downtown Naples, near the Via Campana exit on the Tangenziale.