(ANSA) - Naples, December 31 - A Naples pizzeria is offering 200 free pizzas for people who make a written pledge not to let off fireworks on New Year's Eve or one to help to put out blazing rubbish in the southern city where tonnes of waste are lying uncollected.

The pizzas are part of a "thousand-prize" initiative launched Wednesday by a group of Neapolitan entrepreneurs with the help of local journalist Francesco Emilio Borrelli and radio announcer Gianni Simioli.

"We'll reward anyone who doesn't let off fireworks or anyone who helps the authorities to prevent rubbish fires on New Year's Eve," Borrelli and Simioli said in a joint statement.

"Tonight there's going to be tonnes of garbage that could, if set on fire, destroy parts of the city and give off dangerous dioxin (fumes)".

The Italian government on Wednesday vowed to clear the streets of Naples by New Year's Eve.

According to the latest official estimates, there were about 600 tonnes of uncollected rubbish in the city Friday morning and the goal of getting rid of all the flammable mounds could be in sight. Naples is famous for its explosive fun on the last night of the year but it pays the price for the merrymaking in damage, injuries and sometimes deaths.

The city's long-running trash crisis has added an extra element to the mix this year and the army is set to douse any trash piles left with water to prevent it catching fire.

The businessmen's campaign, entitled This Year You Get A Prize For Not Letting Off Fireworks, follows similar, mostly ineffective attempts to dampen Neapolitans' firework mania in recent years. Women in Naples got so fed up with their menfolk in 2008 that they launched a 'no sex if you let off fireworks' drive.

The operation had some success as the number of injuries dropped by about 100 to 382.

A crackdown on illegal fireworks continued across central and southern Italy Thursday and Friday.

Among other swoops, police seized 3.2 tonnes of the products at Catanzaro in Calabria and arrested two people who had hidden them in three vans.

In Taranto, Puglia, more than 800 kg of dangerous fireworks were found in a garage, bearing fake safety labels.

Some 500 kg of fireworks were discovered hidden in a five-metre-deep hole under a railway line outside Naples, while 400 kg of hidden fireworks were found in Rome.