Italy is vitally concerned that its panoramic vistas are being desecrated by a home-grown version of the floating plastic dump called North Pacific Gyre, the moving vortex of garbage in the Pacific Ocean.

Researchers confirm that the Atlantic Ocean has its own plastic dump, doing incalculable damage to ocean life. Both of these concepts remain remote — out there somewhere — and entering our consciousness only on the Oprah show.

A vision of the Italian seacoast as a garbage dump doesn’t permeate our romantic brains.

Plastic Garbage and Cinque Terre

The quaint Italian villages, terraced vineyards and magnificent cliffs of the Cinque Terre attract three million visitors a year, hoardes of tourists who discard two million plastic bottles, many of which tumble down the cliffs and pollute beaches and the sea.