Rome is falling – defeated by prolonged neglect, Mafia corruption
ROME: Dirty and disorganised, Rome is once more in decline.
City hall is paralysed by allegations of Mafia infiltration, basic services are in tatters, the main airport is partially closed, and wildcat strikes have frayed an already ropey bus network.
For generations, the Italian capital has rested on past glories rather than build on them. The years of neglect, corruption and bureaucratic bungling have taken a fierce toll, reflecting a wider malaise that afflicts Italy as a whole.
“Rome is on the verge of collapse,” said Giancarlo Cremonesi, president of the Rome Chamber of Commerce. “It is unacceptable that a major city which calls itself developed can find itself in such a state of decay.”
One of the 10 biggest cities in Europe, with a population of 2.8 million, Rome boasts some of the most spectacular squares, fountains, museums and churches in the world.
But like its ancient monuments, its problems are plain for all to see, starting at the main international gateway into the city, Fiumicino, Italy’s largest airport, which is struggling to bounce back from a fire that broke out on May 7.
Although the blaze was confined to just part of one of its three terminals, more than two months later, 40 percent of all flights still have to be cancelled each day because of a dispute over the danger posed by contaminants unleashed by the flames.
Magistrates sealed the site for weeks to gauge the air quality. No date has been set for a full reopening and the smell of burnt plastic lingers in the departure halls.
And a much larger investigation has engulfed Rome city hall, housed in a Renaissance palace designed by Michelangelo and gazes out across the ruins of the ancient Roman forum.
The “Mafia Capital” probe, which hit the headlines last December following a first wave of arrests, has rattled Italy, suggesting that organised crime was flourishing far beyond its traditional southern bastions.
Buried under 14 billion (almost R200bn) of debt, Rome was saved from bankruptcy last year by emergency state funds. The mafia scandal has helped explain the financial mess, with wiretap transcripts suggesting mobsters had siphoned off millions of euros from a string of lucrative contracts, covering everything from recycling paper to sheltering illegal immigrants.
Italy is struggling to shake off its worst post-World War II slump, a three-year slide that has driven unemployment up to 1970s levels. While the real economy plunged, the illegal one, such as that unmasked in Rome, has spread and thrived.
In a letter to Corriere della Sera newspaper, published on Monday, mayor Ignqazio Marino conceded much of Rome’s public administration was “substantially rotten”.
“Rome is falling apart at the seams,” the city's main newspaper, Il Messaggero, lamented on its front page last week. On an inside page, it reported a rat infestation.
A 2013 European Commission survey placed Rome last out of 28 EU capitals in the rankings for the efficiency of city services. Despite its fine cuisine and sunny climate, Rome came second to last for quality-of-life satisfaction. Athens was bottom.