ROME -- Popular Italian actor and director Carlo Verdone has spoken to Rome’s mayor Roberto Gualtieri in a phone call to resolve any ill-feeling after a public spat in which Verdone criticised Rome’s poor cleanliness, its lack of public toilets, and inadequate public services at the hands of the current mayoral administration.

 Verdone, a Roman-born actor and director, had expressed his discontent at the state of the city in a wide-ranging interview last week with Il Fatto Quotidiano. The actor and director, known for his comedy roles in ‘Fun Is Beautiful’ (1980), ‘My Best Enemy’ (2006), and ‘Me, Them, and Lara’ (2010), described the city as “unliveable” and criticised the building work ahead of Rome’s 2025 Jubilee.

 “Two or three times a week I really think: I want to get away,” Verdone told Il Fatto Quotidiano. “It’s not only me, I have so many friends that are seriously considering leaving Rome. It’s the first time that is happening.”

 “From my window, I see young guys and drunk people – both people from Rome and tourists – that hide behind cars, statues, trees [to go to the toilet]. Every time you get home, you have to check the soles of your shoes. It’s disgusting, unthinkable for ‘normal’ European cities.”

 “Dear council, what would it take to install some urinals?”

 Gualtieri, who has been in office since 2021, apologised this week for Rome’s inadequate public transport system and the growing pickpocket epidemic. The mayor used an interview with the streamer Ivan Grieco on the streaming platform Twitch to address the current transport and building work issue.

 “I am ashamed, and I apologise to all the people in Rome who have to wait for trains,” he said.

 "From January next year, things will start to get better – now is the worst period. September and October will be difficult months because we'll have all the completion dates of the works to put our public services back in place, as well as all the building work on the roads."

 Despite Gualtieri’s public recognition of the city's problems, Verdone spoke to the mayor to resolve any ill-feeling over comments made in the interview with Il Fatto Quotidiano. According to sources from the mayor’s office, as reported in Sky tg24, Verdone sought to “clarify” his comments and reaffirmed his “respect” for the city’s mayor. It has been reported that Gualtieri took the clarification well and admitted his responsibility in improving the city.

 Gualtieri previously apologised in June 2023 for Rome’s waste problem in an interview on Rai’s ‘Mezz’ora in più’ programme. The mayor recognised the scale of the issue and hoped it would be resolved by Rome’s 2025 Jubilee, assuring he had targeted an end to the problem by the end of his mandate in 2026.

 Gualtieri previously announced in December 2023 that he would be standing again to be re-elected in his position in the next mayoral election.

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