Do they try to stop birds shitting on them or just get rid of the ones that do get shat on?
Yes.
I realize this may be a centuries old tradition thing, but holy hell that is unsanitary.
You would be surprised under which conditions many of the basic food items you are eating daily are produced…
This is not that bad, actually.
The tomatoes are prepared with salt, as it seems (you can still see some salt crystals between them) and will dry relatively fast in the sun and hot wind of southern Italy.
Salt and water removal will quickly make the tomatoes a hostile environment for any kind of microbiological life.
Why is it not rotting or attracting insects?
Hot n dry
Also: salt.
You can see some undissolved salt crystals lying there between the tomatoes.
Chat is this AI? What am I looking here?
Extra ash flavor. Yum!
People pay extra for the smokey bbq flavor!