2023-08-28 19:56:29
Rats in Rome, and particularly in the Colosseum area, become a topic of political confrontation. “It is shameful that the most important archaeological area in the world is in these conditions: that area does not belong to the Ministry of Culture but to the Municipality of Rome, but the issue is not who is competent. I immediately phoned the mayor of Rome clearly stating that the situation is intolerable. We need to do more”, says the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, interviewed by the Lazio Tgr Rai, thus expressing his strong disappointment for the videos of mice among tourists in the area of Colosseum, which led to the release of articles on the degradation also in the international press. “We are ready to take charge of that area”, says Sangiuliano announcing the opening of an institutional table on the issue.
“Rome will beat every record for tourist arrivals this year. This is not the result of chance, but of the work of our administration. We have returned to being the capital of major sporting and concert events, taking away from Northern Italy and other European cities appointments that now they enrich the city’s economy, generate employment, create new tourist flows and offer a modern image that Rome had by now lost.It is a pity that Minister Sangiuliano underlines only one negative aspect without noticing the enormous effort made by the administration to achieve these numbers in tourism in the Capital after years of stagnation for the sector. Unfortunately, from New York to London, from Paris to Milan, the problem of mice has historically afflicted large cities”, says Alessandro Onorato, councilor of Rome Capital for tourism, fashion, major events and sports.
”Perhaps it would be more correct and constructive to work together to give prestige to the capital of Italy and enhance all its aspects, assigning adequate resources to Rome and similar to those of other large capitals to improve cleanliness and decorum. A criticism of this type would be understandable if made by a tourist, less so if raised by the minister of culture. Can you imagine the British Undersecretary of State for Culture criticizing London because there are too many rats?”.
”Tourists rather ask themselves when they will be able to pay for the Colosseum ticket without suffering the online touting that triples the price and which the Superintendency of State and the Ministry of Culture seem not to want to see. This is an emergency that damages Italy and the credibility of Rome “, she says again.
“I want to clear the field of any doubts: Rome is not a city invaded by rats. Anyone who describes a city attacked day and night by rats of all sizes is not doing any good for the capital or for Italy. There are rats here, there are they have always been and, I fear, there will always be. It is like this in all the metropolises in the world. In all the cities with a large watercourse and a capillary sewage system”, says the Councilor for Agriculture in a note, Environment and Waste Cycle of Rome Capital, Sabrina Alfonsi.
”As regards the Colosseum area which, I remind you, is not among those for which we have historically received the highest number of reports, already this morning the head of the Synanthropic and Problematic Species Office, an esteemed and highly experienced biologist , carried out an initial inspection aimed at identifying burrows. Most likely, as our expert tells us, the “anomalous” release of rats coincides with the work that the Colosseum Archaeological Park is carrying out on the square and more precisely, as reported on their website, for the excavation of the southern and of the two collapsed ambulatories. This same phenomenon, which is very normal, often occurs in conjunction with excavations, construction sites and earthmoving. The rats, frightened by new operations, go out to look for new dens”.
”Speaking of dens, the Office has already arranged to place a powerful rodenticide in the points not affected by the passage of people and tomorrow morning will place the catching baits in the manhole covers throughout the area. Tomorrow afternoon, together with the Director General of Ama, Alessandro Filippi, and the Director of the Environmental Protection Department, Giuseppe Sorrentino, we will have the first meeting with the Director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, Alfonsina Russo, to study the actions to be implemented jointly ” .
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