Police patrol Rome's Spanish Steps to implement sitting ban

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn perched there and not using a care within the 1953 movie “Roman Vacation.” However the Spanish Steps in Rome are not a spot for sitting.

Implementing an ordinance that took impact final month, law enforcement officials patrolled the famed stone staircase Wednesday to inform locals and guests “Please, no sitting” on one of many Everlasting Metropolis’s most recognizable landmarks.

The 137 steps constructed within the 1720s have lengthy been a preferred spot to folks watch, hangout and pause for a breath. Rome’s official tourism web site describes the steps as a passageway “however much more so a spot for assembly and a pleasing relaxation.”

However as of July 8, sitting, consuming and consuming on them is against the law and can lead to a tremendous of as much as 400 euros ($450.) The ordinance additionally applies to different photogenic websites in Rome, just like the Trevi Fountain.

The town authorities mentioned the regulation has been utilized in full since its efficient date, it wasn’t till this week that law enforcement officials in yellow vests have been deployed to the Spanish Steps to visibly implement it.

Watching officers movement for seated guests to rise up, Italian vacationer Tommaso Galletta mentioned he disagreed with the sitting ban.

“This monument is so lovely. There was a baby sitting who was drained, sitting down along with his father a couple of minutes in the past, and the site visitors officer requested them to face up,” Galletta mentioned.

Others took no concern with the ban.

“If we’ve to comply with the regulation, we’ve to comply with it. We should not have an issue with that,” mentioned Jurgen Meier, a German vacationer.

The Spanish Steps have been constructed by architect Francesco De Sanctis between 1723 and 1726. They join the Piazza di Spagna under and the commanding Trinita dei Monti church excessive above.

Rome’s efforts to curb the unwelcome conduct of vacationers and to guard items of historical past mirror actions in Italian cities like Venice and Florence, the place respectively shirtless gondola rides and consuming on church steps are banned.

A German couple was fined 950 euros ($1,066) in Venice final month for making espresso close to the famed Rialto Bridge. .