The road around the Colosseum in Rome has been made into a pedestrian zone. The often congested Via dei Fori Imperiali road has been blocked to traffic thanks to an initiative spearheaded by the city’s recently-elected mayor, Ignazio Marino. He claims the measure will reduce vehicle traffic by 90%, and reduce the vibrations and pollution caused by cars that threaten the iconic building. The avenue was built in the 1920s by Benito Mussolini. It runs through an important archaeological site that stretches from the Colosseum to Piazza Venezia passing through the Ancient Roman Forum. The only traffic to be allowed on the street is bicycles, pedestrians, emergency vehicles, buses and taxis. The mayor told the BBC: “I believe we have a responsibility to keep the richness of history for the entire human kind – it is more important than a shortcut.” The traffic ban is the first step in what the mayor hopes will be a new era for Rome. He said: “I am dreaming of arriving at the total pedestrianisation of the Roman Forum during my administration.” Marino told British newspaper ‘The Sunday Times’ that he wants to “wield a scalpel” on the Via dei Fori Imperiali in an effort to uncover ancient buildings and artefacts, and make the Italian capital “the planet’s biggest archaeological park” to attract more tourists to the city. He told ‘The Sunday Times’: “We know that, under Mussolini’s avenue, there are the forums of Nerva, Julius Caesar, Trajan and Augustus. If London or Washington [DC] had this treasure, which represents western civilisation, could they have covered it up with tarmac?” The mayor hopes that any excavations would be funded by wealthy individuals and international sponsors. He said: “We could bring to light the entire forums of emperors such as Caesar and Augustus, for example, and destroy everything that was built over them during hundreds of years.”
