Rush in the Holy Year 2025 will bring twice as many guests to Rome, but the city is not ready
The Holy Year 2025 begins in the Italian capital on December 24. 30 million more visitors are expected. Residents are skeptical, as Rome is working on 1000 construction sites.
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- Rome is preparing for the Holy Year 2025 and is expecting up to 30 million additional visitors, almost twice as many as in other years.
- The problem: there are over 1000 construction sites in the city where dilapidated infrastructure is to be repaired.
- Mayor Gualtieri rejects the criticism that preparations are behind schedule.
- He emphasizes that financial support was only decided after Meloni took office in December 2022.
- Despite ongoing renovations and extensive construction work, many citizens are skeptical as to whether Rome will be ready in time for the Jubilee Year.
Rome is preparing for the Holy Year 2025. Known as the "Jubilee Year", or "Giubileo" in Italian, it actually begins on December 24. In fact, as early as 1470, the Catholic Church established that such a Jubilee Year would be celebrated every 25 years, during which the faithful would make a pilgrimage to Rome to have their sins forgiven. Officially, it begins on December 24, 2024, but this has also come as a complete surprise to the city administration, according to scoffers in Rome, writes the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper .
Rome is expecting up to 30 million additional visitors in 2025, which will double the city's tourist numbers. The Eternal City is already very busy and its infrastructure cannot cope with the crowds. Dilapidated streets, crumbling facades and dirt characterize the image in many places. In order to remain in good shape, the city administration is pushing to complete as many renovations as possible in the time remaining.
Mayor of Rome criticizes Meloni
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri firmly rejects accusations of having acted too late. When asked, he says that preparations were delayed by the last government crisis, that the new Meloni government only decided to provide financial support for the city of Rome after its election in December 2022 and that the city administration then took action "in record time". Construction projects, which usually take years of preparation and bureaucracy, were realized within months.
According to Gualtieri, there are currently 322 construction sites in operation that are directly linked to the Holy Year - not counting the extension of metro line 3. Nevertheless, doubts remain as to whether everything is running smoothly. Barriers were erected and projects announced early on, but in many places nothing seemed to be happening at first.
After the summer vacation, however, the city stepped up the pace of work. Large parts of the city center are closed or covered, and construction fences dominate the cityscape from Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. Large pedestrian zones are also being built near the Vatican, necessitating the construction of a new tunnel.
Construction projects worth 11 billion
In addition to the projects for the Holy Year, there are also projects that have to be financed with funds from the EU's Corona Reconstruction Fund until 2026. Rome is working on a total of 1,000 construction sites costing a total of 11 billion euros. Gualtieri is "quite satisfied" with the progress, but many citizens do not share this optimism.
Tourists visiting the city in the coming months will feel the state of emergency. All three of the famous fountains in Piazza Navona have been covered up, while decades of limescale deposits are being removed. The measures are certainly sensible, but the question remains as to why the city did not act sooner.