Step Back In Time As Road Through Roman Forum Goes Pedestrian

Rome closes the road through the ancient imperial forum to private cars, in the first step to pedestrianise the area around the exhaust-blackened Colosseum.

 ROME, ITALY (AUGUST 3, 2013) (REUTERS) -  A ceremony including tightrope walkers, theatre performances and lightshows was held in the heart of ancient Rome on Saturday (August 3) to inaugurate a scheme that bans private vehicles on the street running along the ruins near the Colosseum.

Less than two months in office, the mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino is promising a minor revolution in the Italian capital and risking the ire of local motorists by closing the area around the ancient imperial forum complex to private traffic.The mighty Colosseum and the so-called "fori imperiali", a series of overlapping public squares built over more than 100 years by successive Roman emperors, are among the city's most spectacular sites, drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

But the area has long been divided by a wide thoroughfare constructed under former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini which cuts straight through the ancient ruins and forms a major road artery in a city that strains to keep its traffic under control.

It is a familiar issue in Rome, where infrastructure projects including the expansion of the underground metro system have long been held up by the need to protect the archaeological treasures that lie everywhere beneath the city streets.

Many of the Romans and tourists who crowded the new pedestrian area praised the mayor's initiative.

"It's a great idea. Traffic in neighbouring areas was very bad before and will continue to be very bad. At least pedestrians can now enjoy one of the most beautiful spectacles in the world, the Roman Forum. A great initiative," saidAlessandro Iannotti, a Rome resident.

"I think it's a great idea, mostly because Rome is such a touristy area and there's a lot people crossing roads, sometimes I feel it could be dangerous. So I think it is a great idea to block a certain part of it, just because the Roman Forum is here, the Colosseum is right behind us. I think it's a great idea," echoed Marzia Ackbery, a tourist from Canada.

With Rome emptied of much of its normal traffic as it swelters in the heat of the August summer holiday, the full impact of the decision may not be felt immediately but already opposition is growing.

Many local residents complain that the decision was rushed through just weeks after the June election, which brought Marino to his office on the Campidoglio hill overlooking the forum.

In the quiet Celio neighbourhood, a few hundred meters from the Colosseum, residents and shopkeepers fear that the traffic banned from the Roman Forum area will be diverted to their tiny streets.

"They are making pavements larger for pedestrians, but they are removing parking spaces and making circulation impossible for cars. How should we come here, should we be dropped in by helicopter?" asked Tiziana De Majo, a Celio resident.

"We live here, not in the suburbs. Maybe (politicians) want to kick us out and keep the centre all for themselves," she said.

The roads near the forum and the nearby Colosseum were shut down at 0530 a.m. (0330gmt) on Saturday night for a special series of celebrations before being cut off permanently.

The decision has aroused heated opposition from residents and motorists who fear chaos from traffic diversions, but Marino says Rome's incomparable but often neglected archaeological treasures go beyond local politics.

"In which other country, imagine London, Sidney, San Francisco, if they had had the Colosseum they would have turned it into a roundabout for traffic?" asked the 58-year-old surgeon-turned-politician, addressing the crowd during the inauguration ceremony.

"In sum, tonight, let's give these monuments back to history. Let's give them back to history," he said.

By closing most of the Fori Imperiali road that runs 1.1 km (0.7 miles) from the Colosseum to the giant marble Victor Emaneule monument, cycling lover Marino hopes to eventually turn the whole area into an archaeological park.

The ban will not stop all traffic around the sites. Buses, taxis, bicycles and emergency vehicles will still be allowed, although at reduced speeds.