Forum shut as snow falls on Rome
Thick snowflakes fell in Rome today, a rare sight for city usually blessed by a temperate climate.
The snowfall prompted authorities to stop visitors from entering the Coliseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome’s ancient emperors.
The director of the Coliseum, Rossella Rea, said the sites were closed out of fears that visitors could slip on ice.
The last substantial snowfalls in Rome were in 1985 and 1986, though there have been other cases of lighter snow since then, including in 2010.
Snow began falling in the late morning, leaving a light dusting on trees and cars and forming slush on the roads. The north of Italy has also been gripped by snow and ice that is disrupting train travel.
Temperatures plunged as low as -22C (-7F), in Trepalle, a village in the Italian Alps.
