Rome's mayor faces calls to resign after metro breakdown causes city centre to grind to a halt

Josephine McKenna
Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome, is facing calls for her resignation after the closure of three major metro stations due to faulty escalators  - Barcroft Media
Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome, is facing calls for her resignation after the closure of three major metro stations due to faulty escalators - Barcroft Media

Rome’s embattled mayor, Virginia Raggi, faced calls for her resignation this weekend after three major metro stations were shut down in the heart of the Italian capital due to concerns over faulty escalators.

Shopkeepers and tourists were furious when the transport company, ATAC, closed the central Spagna metro station in the city’s upscale shopping precinct for urgent checks on Saturday.

The Barberini station was closed last week and the Repubblica metro has been shut down since last October after the escalator accelerated, injuring several people.

“We believe this situation is no longer acceptable,” said Valter Giammaria, Rome president of the small business organisation, Confesercenti.

“Our businesses and Roman citizens have been suffering since last year without the city’s administration making any specific commitments. Justifications about the obsolescence of infrastructure are worthless.”

Rome’s latest transport chaos was bad news for Ms Raggi, the city’s first female mayor and a leading figure in the Five Star Movement, who has been criticised for failing to manage rubbish collection, parks and gardens or fix worsening potholes since her election in 2016. Several city buses have also gone up in flames since she was elected.

Andrea Casu, Rome secretary of the centre-left Democratic Party, accused the mayor of “demonstrable ineptitude” and demanded she resign before the metro system was completely shut down.

Virginia Raggi has been accused by her opponents of "demonstrable ineptitude"  - Credit: Alessandro Di Meo/EPA 
Virginia Raggi has been accused by her opponents of "demonstrable ineptitude" Credit: Alessandro Di Meo/EPA

But the much-maligned mayor is now engulfed in a widening corruption scandal that could threaten her political survival.

Her former council assembly chief Marcello De Vito has been arrested in a corruption probe and her former right-hand man, Daniele Frongia, placed under investigation in a Roma football stadium graft case.

“We are not going back to the past,” Ms Raggi said in an apparent reference to the ‘Mafia Capitale’ scandal which revealed a network of criminal corruption under a previous administration. “There is no room for ambiguity."

“Luigi Di Maio (Five Star leader) expelled Marcello De Vito within a few hours. And I immediately started an internal investigation into all the files mentioned in the investigation concerning De Vito.  This is a serious response.”

In November last year Ms Raggi was cleared of cronyism and abuse of power after a judge ruled that the alleged offence did not constitute a crime.

She was accused of lying to investigators over the appointment of Renato Marra, the brother of one of her close aides, as Rome’s tourism chief.

Meanwhile the Five Star Movement was facing a broader challenge in critical local elections being held in the southern region of Basilicata on Sunday.

Matteo Salvini, the head of the League, was hoping to overturn 25 years of centre-Left rule in the region and broaden his party’s support ahead of the European Parliament elections in May.

The Five Star Movement has been overshadowed by its coalition partner, which contests elections separately, since the two populist parties entered office together last June.