Mayor decrees death ban in southern Italian town

The tongue-in-cheek edict is the latest twist and turn in a dispute with a neighbouring town that owns the only cemetery, still with spaces, in the area.Inhabitants of the sleepy southern Italian town of Falciano del Massico have been issued with a rather unusual decree by their mayor - they are now forbidden to die.The news has been greeted with some trepidation by the communitys 3,700, mainly pensioner population. Falciano, which lies some 60 kilomteres north of Naples, is not fighting for a right of eternal life, however, but rather the right to die and be buried in their own home town.The tongue-in-cheek edict is the latest episode of a long-running battle with neighbouring towns, Colcanino, Capo Tignano and Mondragone after a redrawing of boundaries between the communities in 1964. Now space in the cemetery at Falciano del Massico has run out and the mayor wants authorities to build a new one for the residents saying that inhabitants do not want to travel several kilometres down the road to be buried in what they seem to regard as hostile territory.Here people cannot even die, because there is no room in the cemetery. We have to end up either in nearby Mondragone or in Capo Tignano said pensioner Giuseppe di Fusco.And if you go to Mondragone you have to pay more, because the Camorra mafia wants money to get you a place in Mondragone said his friend who did not want to be named.Mayor Giulio Cesare Fava has proudly pinned up his edict outside the town hall, in the format of a death notice.It is forbidden to cross the border of earthly life... It is forbidden, with immediate effect, to all citizens resident in the municipality of Falciano del Massico, and to whoever passes by its territory, to cross the border of earthly life and to enter the after-life it reads.I cannot forbid you to die and I cannot influence the Lord because I do no have such powers. But there is one thing I can do: I can issue an edict ordering you to make every effort not to die insofar as its in your ability to do so explained Mayor Fava with a grin.So, I issued the edict. The media and everyone showed great interest in our problem Fava said.I stimulated the attention of the regional authorities and the local inhabitants, some of whom have offered me land and now we are able to build our cemetery. So, my edict looked like a ridiculous, banal idea but, actually, it had a very positive impact he said proudly.The ageing population will certainly be grateful for the mayors efforts.