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Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Reminders from Rome and Italy: Rome, Etruscans, Crime, Cutting, Pollution, Police, and Perugia in Umbria

Italy is one of the top ten countries visited by the British and holiday-makers worldwide. So the Italians have been busy promoting at the World Travel Market in London. Rome is pushing for more upmarket customers, especially visitors on conferences, to stay longer than the average two-day stay, because conference goers stay longer, five days average, and spend more.

More Police
Rome is planning to introduce special police to cut down on crime. That's important. For years I avoided Spain and Italy because of my experiences there.

Cutting Crime
Another initiative is to remove one cause of Crime, immigrants who have no jobs and turn to crime as they have no other income. The move is to get employment for immigrants instead of taking the opposite approach which is leaving them unemployed or cording them to give up work.

I have always thought that forcing people to be unemployed (in the UK) is daft. Either send them home or give them work.

Cutting Polution and Traffic James
A second initiative is to cut down coaches or buses polluting and creating traffic jams. The increased charges on buses and coaches entering the city did not please a spokesman for buses, who told me that in many parts of the UK and presumably also Italy as many as five times as many visitors arrive by bus or coach, as arrive by air.

Tourist Tax on Coaches
In response the representative of Rome told us that they were not intending to cut out bus and coach travel entirely, just to regulate it. The changes planned are not only with the tax increase from the current 9 euros on each bus entering the city going up to 25. (If I've got the figures right. If you know otherwise please tell me. I don't think the exact figures matter, just the fact that it's a big increase to deter the buses as well as making money for the city.)

Pedestrian
The other moves coming to Rome include more pedestrian-friendly areas.  How will the pedestrians get around from the coach parks? Some shuttle buses, electric or environmentally friendly, are also in the plans or pipelines.

Rome and Exciting Etruscans
Rome has Etruscan ruins. I'd never understood who the Etruscans were nor cared about them until I went to Perugia and saw the giant cliffside gateway which is the entrance to the city. Looks like tunnelling into the cliffside, but huge! The Etruscans are the natives who fought the encroaching Romans. Either the Roman were more ruthless or better organized or both. Anyway, modern Rome also has underground catacombs, like Paris, as well as Etruscan remains. More on the Etruscans in my next post.

Umbria and its Capital City Perugia
Just a reminder about Umbria and one of my favourite cities, Perugia. The links are
 @UmbriaTourism and #loveUmbria

More updates on Umbria shortly. See my previous posts on Perugia.
Etruscan gateway in Perugia. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Websites and links:
 @UmbriaTourism and #loveUmbria
See my other travel website:
www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Author
Angela Lansbury
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