Naples garbage tops Italian cabinet agenda

NAPLES, Italy (CNN) - He raised a stink about it during his recent election campaign, and now Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is taking action - moving his entire cabinet to Naples for a day to address the city's ever-growing garbage crisis.

The waste problems in Naples and the surrounding Campania region were a big issue in Berlusconi's campaign earlier this year. The new premier promised to hold his cabinet's first official meeting in the southern city to show the government is serious about tackling it.

Streets around the city center and along the cabinet members' planned route have been cleaned for the meeting Wednesday. A dreary rainfall is washing away the months-old stench, but rubbish remains at the top of the day's agenda.

The problems have been around in some form for nearly 15 years, but they flared December 31 when the Italian government closed one of the area's two working dumps at the request of nearby residents.

That led to trash piling up on city streets, and some schools were closed to protect children from the noxious fumes.