Written by Anna Nikolskaya, CNN
The northern Italian Alps have gone into lockdown, with authorities clamped down on an outbreak of violence that led to the arrest of 100 people and damage to 28 cars.
Trucks have been banned from being carried on Alpine roads, and national tourist police Force Nazionale will assist local police in removing unauthorized groups from the ski resorts of Albertina and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
On Monday, thousands of police were deployed to Albertina and Cortina, and extra order brought in to prevent a repeat of an incident in July at the nearby Hotel Cervinia, which saw managers locked inside the ground floor by around 100 masked and hooded men.
They were described as “organized and armed” by police, who dismantled a drug trafficking ring, and carried away “luxury,” hand-tooled knives in the pile of boot-stuffed books brought up by the suspects.
Albertina Alpine resort, about 25 miles north of Milan. Credit: Maria Medich
Upgrades are underway on ski lifts, hotel front desks, and other facilities, while the local authority has also invested in permanent help for the 2,500 staff that work in the high alpine resorts.
Visitors have been cautioned to keep a close eye on their valuables, and advised to avoid going outside in late morning and early afternoon, when the greatest numbers of tourists arrive.
The holiday season has already begun, and with most British, French, and Germans, on a ski holiday, resorts will be forced to close some runs until all eyes have been diverted to the forthcoming European Championships in football.
A construction worker walks along the piazza in Albertina Alpine resort, about 25 miles north of Milan. Credit: Maria Medich
Given the world’s worst wildfire, the pyro storms, that has burnt some 2.1 million acres, the Italian authorities are determined not to repeat that trouble.