Less than a day after it was installed, thieves or vandals have snatched a metres-tall Christmas tree, installed in Naples’ famous Galleria Umberto I.
And it’s not the first time it’s happened—only the fastest. The attackers left behind a few scraps and decorations, leaving a clean-cut stump, suggesting they many have used a chainsaw.
Police believe that this tree, like previous ones whose traces have been found, may have disappeared into hiding places in the city’s Spanish Quarters, to be used later as part of traditional bonfires lit on January 17 on the feast of Sant’Antonio Abate.
It’s not the only tree in danger: numbers of other trees around the city have been put behind gates or secured with padlocks. And the thieves don’t always succeed at the Galleria: two years ago, a gang of youths, possibly connected to criminal gangs, stripped the tree and were dragging it to the exit when they were spotted and fled.
