A plan to use fencing lessons to ease stress among Naples public administrators came under fire Wednesday.
The lessons are part of a 40,000-euro scheme approved by Naples' provincial government to ease stress levels with 'bonding' courses and psychological training.
The provincial councillor for human resources, Giuseppe Capasso, said he was ''amazed'' such a ''ridiculous'' initiative had been greenlit, apparently behind his back.
''I'd like to pass it off as a joke but in fact it's a slap in the face of every provincial worker at a time when we're struggling with pay and job cuts,'' Capasso said.
Another civil service councillor, Francesco Emilio Borrelli, urged the unidentified official who approved the courses to ''withdraw this disgraceful initiative''.
''In a period of financial crisis, one simply cannot fathom how such a decision could have been taken''.
The fencing flap is not the first time Naples administrators have been accused of wasting public money on frivolous initiatives.
In another case, a firm in a rundown area outside near Naples used taxpayers' money to swell the ranks of the sexy but semi-mute girls, so-called 'veline', on Italian TV.
