A very special armed robbery in the heart of Naples has reignited the debate about public safety in Italy's major cities.

The July 17 incident was captured by the surveillance cameras of the Monidee café in Piazza Trieste e Trento.

The footage, later shared by café owner Antonio Visconti, subsequently went viral.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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The victims of the attack are two Swiss tourists outside the café.

A stocky young man in a black T-shirt holds a pistol to one of the two's temples. The gunman snatches the watch from the surprised tourist's wrist and runs off.

The frightened tourists jump back into their seats and wait for the drinks they have ordered.

About seven minutes later, another young man in a white T-shirt comes by, raises his arms apologetically and gives the robbed tourist his watch back.

Because the watch was not a real Richard Mille worth around 300,000 euros, but a duplicate with a low value.

Unacceptable security situation

The two Swiss tourists accepted the incident with astonishing composure.

But for businessmen like Visconti, who called the police immediately after the attack, and for local politicians like Francesco Emilio Borrelli, a Greens MP in the regional parliament of Campania, the attack is another indication of the unacceptable security situation in Naples.

"Something like this happens in the middle of the historic center," Borrelli was outraged.

“The thieves go armed and without disguises just a few meters from the police station.

If the tourist hadn't played along, the whole thing could have ended in drama." Café owner Visconti complained: "It's not just about our business, the robberies are damaging Naples' reputation."

Mayor Gaetano Manfredi reiterated that improving public safety is a top priority for him, for the town hall and for the prefecture.

Manfredi promised that new surveillance cameras would be installed, defective cameras repaired and more police patrols deployed.

The problem of robberies in inner cities affects not only Naples, but all major cities in the country, including Milan, the mayor said.

In the metropolis in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, the influencer Chiara Ferragni recently complained that the security situation in the city center had gotten "out of control".

Milan Mayor Beppe Sala rejected the assessment, but promised increased efforts to improve public safety.