“I do not know if Amanda Knox is guilty, but she deserves prison for chasing away all the English and American tourists in Perugia,” says C. Vittoria, who sells postcards on the central square of the medieval Italian city. Since the case of Amanda Knox–a young American student on exchange in Perugia, sentenced to 26 years for the murder of her English roommate Meredith Kercher and whose trial resumed on appeal, Vittoria has seen attendance at his shop for English tourists cut in half.
Like Vittoria, “the Amanda Knox case has been a disaster” for Giovanni, who runs an ice cream shop in the tourist center of Perugia. ”I pay every day the consequences of this trial, and even more since it resumed last year,” he said. “It’s been four years that we are victims of propaganda, the British and American press against Perugia. They describe our city as a hub for drugs and our police as corrupt to the core. It’s like a travel brochure, ” Alessandro said ironically. A magazine vendor, he sometimes refuses to sell the Daily Mail and Newsweek “when they say too many lies. ”
“I was told it was a cursed city”
On vacation in Italy, Hannah, a young Englishwoman, 22, is one of the tourists who almost never come to Perugia because of Amanda Knox case. ”I hesitated a lot before coming. When I told my friends that I visit Perugia, they tried very hard to dissuade me to the point that I almost canceled my train tickets at the last minute,” says the girl who “is careful not to go into the dark streets ” of the medieval old town. ”I was told it was a cursed city, but I try not to fall into psychosis,” she adds.
The case of Amanda Knox has not only scared away tourists from Perugia but also the English-speaking students. Student life, once bustling, is a little less today. ”Many things have changed because of Amanda Knox. When we go out late at night, the police are very resent, the bars avoiding serving beer in glasses and prefer plastic cups …” regrets Zarko, a former Serbian student at the International University (ndr., University for Foreigners) , which included Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher at the time of the crime. ” (ndr. Meredith was at the University of Perugia). Now on campus, you cannot find any Americans or British. There are more than North Africans, some French and Spanish.” Sitting on the steps of the famous cathedral of San Lorenzo, Zarko gestures toward the square, which is half empty. ”The American and British press are punishing Perugia for a crime it did not commit. An odd revenge.”
