Tourists asking boatmen to “Take us to the Blue Grotto please” were bewildered to be told abruptly, “Sorry, no boat trips, no nothing — we are all on strike”.

Similar protests are being staged on Ischia and Procida, the other two main islands in the Bay of Naples, and on the volcanic Aeolian islands near Sicily. The ferry cuts are blamed on a reduction in government subsidies.

The strike on Capri has closed shops and bars in the port of Marina Grande and the two main towns, Capri and Anacapri, throughout the day.

Those tourists already on the island have found themselves stranded, with nowhere to relax over a drink and no tour guides prepared to show them the sights, which include Tiberius’s Villa Jovis as well as the Blue Grotto. Even the normally bustling Piazzetta, Capri’s picturesque central square, is all but deserted, with most bars and boutiques firmly shuttered.

As church bells rang out in sympathy with the strikers, thousands of islanders blocked access to the port from the sea, using boats ranging from fishing vessels and motor yachts to rowing boats. The blockade stopped the arrival from Naples of ferries and hydrofoils, normally packed with tourists. “We have to do something, the lifeblood of Capri is being cut off,” said Father Salvatore Chiusano, the parish priest.

The protests began in April, and have since escalated. The protesters are objecting not only to the reduction in ferry services but also to the damage they say is being inflicted by budget cuts on amenities such as Capri’s hospital and roads.

The decision to shut down the island was taken by a joint session of the Capri and Anacapri councils together with the local hotel operators’ association and shopkeepers and bar owners.

They ignored appeals for “moderation” from Antonio Bassolino, President of the Campania region and a former mayor of Naples.

At the heart of the dispute lies a decision by the state-run Caremar ferry line to reduce its service to Naples and abolish sailings between the island and Sorrento. Ciro Lembo, the Mayor of Capri, said that the ferry operators were “committing grand larceny. They are out to rob us blind and suck out all the wealth that we islanders produce”.

Signor Lembo said that the protests would continue until September unless budget cuts were reversed and ferry services were restored.

Caremar said that it would restore services until mid-July, but could not guarantee them beyond that. In the Aeolian Islands local mayors led the protests, at one stage occupying a ferry run by Siremar Lines.

The centre-left Government of Romano Prodi, which took office a month ago after narrowly winning the general election, blames the centre-right Government of Silvio Berlusconi for imposing drastic public spending cuts in a desperate attempt to reduce Italy’s ballooning public deficit.

The Prodi Government is formulating its 2006-07 budget, but has not yet revealed how it intends to reduce the deficit and boost growth, or whether spending cuts will be reversed. Signor Lembo said that he had appealed to President Napolitano to intervene.

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