ROME: Tourist cruises along Rome’s Tiber River have been suspended indefinitely for the first time since they began a decade ago because the waterway is judged too dirty. “Tourists and Rome residents were expecting navigation for the year to resume at Easter. But we didn’t open out of respect for them,” said Mauro Pica Villa from “Rome Boats,” the company in charge of all cruises on the river. “We’re ashamed of the Tiber’s state of abandonment,” he said yesterday. The river’s tall stone embankments have become grey with pollution, the river banks are strewn with rubbish and homeless people live under the bridges. “The last time the river was cleaned up was in 2008! Everyone can see it since trees along the Tiber are covered in plastic bags and other rubbish every time the river overflows,” which happens several times in a year, he said.
Rome river judged too dirty for tourist cruises
