Barack Obama was once more on show in nativity scenes along Naples' 'presepe' street Wednesday night after a day-long row over unlicensed Christmas vendors.
Shoppers and tourists were aghast to find the medieval Via San Gregorio Armeno - a mecca for presepe-lovers - shut down after a heavy-handed police attempt to remove unauthorised open-air stalls.
All the presepe sellers pulled down their shutters in solidarity with the stall-keepers, who hold a Christmas market at one end of the street each year dressed in traditional shepherd garb.
A spokesman for the vendors said the market had ''always'' been approved but this year the authorisation ''got tangled up in red tape''.
After a brief encounter with police, the vendors went to city hall and emerged six hours later with a deal on taking down illegal stands.
Under the agreement, the vendors will present a plan within two days detailing how they are going to dismantle the stalls cluttering the street.
The stall-holders also agreed to cut the stalls to 75, corresponding to the number of licenses issued by the council.
Soon after, the world-famous craftsmen who have made the street a byword for presepe excellence and variety reopened their shops to the delight of Christmas shoppers and tourists.
One of the presepe-makers said ''the borgo definitely needs to be reorganised but it should be done in all due course''.
A vendor said ''hundreds'' of families depended on the pre-Christmas sale of statues, trinkets and the like for their livelihoods.
Among the hottest presepe statuettes this year, apart from Obama, are Inter Milan soccer coach Jose' Mourinho, his star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the local soccer idol who has joined fellow Argentinian Diego Armando Maradona in Neapolitan hearts, Ezequiel Lavezzi.
Other new entries are Carla Bruni, Nicolas Sarkozy and two Italian cabinet members whose reforms have made waves, Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini and Civil Service chief Renato Brunetta.
