Si? No? Ni?
The tourists are certainly pleased that Rome’s beautiful Piazza di Spagna is now – as of yesterday – closed to traffic, the first step in what is supposed to be a near-total shutdown of the Tridente area – 15 streets included within the three roads leading away from Piazza del Popolo towards Via del Tritone. But not everyone is totally happy. What happens if you are in a hotel in this area and need a taxi to come pick you and your (heavy) bags up? What happens if you live in the area and after a car trip to a large supermarket outside the zone need to take your shopping home or have it delivered. What happens if you are an invalid or an elderly person. According to the original plan, arrangements are supposed to be made to make at least some of these things possible. But who knows?
I know something about this because I live on a street in Trastevere that officially, at least, has been labeled a pedestrian area, which if interpreted strictly means no vehicle other than police and ambulances are allowed to drive down it. And this despite the fact that there are dozens of stores and restaurants that need to be serviced and that, despite everything, this is a residential area. The only good thing is that city police enforce this only rarely; the last time I got a ticket when I unwittingly drove down the street with all my groceries (mind you, I wasn’t going to park which is nearly impossible anyway; just unload and then take the car to the garage) was last November. So unless they change the street’s label – my suggestion is “traffico limitato” (limited traffic) – one can only hope they don’t, overnight, become efficient.
