ROME -- Via dei Fori Imperali, the road leading up to the Colosseum, has been re-opened to buses and taxis, despite former Mayor Ignazio Marino’s decision to make it a pedestrian only area. Rome’s councillor for Mobility, Linda Meleo, said “we are re-opening the Via dei Fori Imperiali to public transport," expressing her disagreement with Marino’s proposed plan to have it closed for the duration of August.

 The closure of the road to all private means of transport was one of the first actions Marino took when became Mayor of the Eternal City in June 2013. In an interview with the New York Times, he said “I want to change an extremely busy road into a walk through history,” highlighting that the huge amount of traffic passing by the Colosseum each day was negatively impacting the cultural and historical importance of the Flavian Amphitheatre.

 “We want to give back the Colosseum to Romans but also to the whole planet,” Marino said about the closing off of the Via dei Fori Imperiali to passing traffic.

 Meleo, however, disagreed with the former Mayor’s vision for the area surrounding the Colosseum. “We have chosen to take immediate action,” said Meleo, “because such a vision would have also impacted the progress of continuing works on Metro C, which would trigger potential losses of about 150,000 euros per day. This post is to inform you that in the next few days everything will switch back on and return to normal, and that buses will return to the Via dei Fori Imperiali from July 30 to August 13, and then from August 22 to September 2,” she posted on her Facebook page.

 Until the recent decision of the new city council, August was initially set to be a traffic free month for the all-important road, but complaints from citizens about the inconvenience of a no transport zone as well as the rising number of illegal and persistent street sellers pestering pedestrians under the Colosseum has prompted Meleo to take action in re-opening the road to buses, taxis, and permit holders.

 se