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A sweet sentiment has appeared on Ponte Principe Amedeo, the bridge leading from the Trastevere/Vatican area to the historic center in the area of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini. It reads:

Chi getta semi al vento fara fiorire il cielo…

or

Whoever throws seeds in the wind will make flowers in the sky…

A bit of googling suggests that the author may be one Ivan, a self-appointed street poet who has painted the same lines in other cities and who, since 2003, has been staging poetic assaults in Italy’s cities.

Yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Rome for a three-day stay. The security and complications surrounding his visit will effectively shut down parts of the Eterna and will leave Romans sitting in huge traffic jams or trekking long distances through the city on foot.

As demonstrated by the photo above, the President’s arrival was greeted with the usual good will and fanfare. U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice, an organization with a noble mission, joined with Italian activists and international friends, to denounce the countless crimes of the Bush regime, from the destruction of the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, to torture and illegal detention, to intelligence fixing and threats of attacks against Iran.

They made a symbolic citizen’s arrest of Bush, Cheney and Rice (see above), leading them from Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza Barberini in chains.

Visit the U.S. Citizens for Peace and Justice website to find out more about the organization or to join its efforts.

Around 150 statues across Rome were wearing anti-pollution masks over their mouths on Thursday morning following a covert night-time operation by environmental activists.

Early-morning joggers and dog walkers alerted the police to the masks after finding them on statues of Roman emperors lining Via dei Fori Imperiali near the Colosseum,
famous magistrates around Rome’s Palace of Justice, and Garibaldi’s mustachioed generals on the Janiculum Hill.  Statues in Piazza del Popolo and along two bridges across the River Tiber were also dressed in the protective gear.

The activists from environmental group Terra! had also hung no-entry road signs around the necks of the statues bearing the chemical symbol for carbon dioxide.
”It’s incredible that they could have done this without anyone realising,” said a dog walker who notified police to masks and signs placed over the white marble angels on the bridge leading to Castel Sant’Angelo.  ”These angels are at least four meters high: even if it was during the night, you’d still need a ladder to reach their heads”.

Terra! said the masked statues were ”protesting together with activists” about carbon dioxide emissions from cars and appealed to the European Commission to issue new
regulations for the reduction of the greenhouse gas.  Restoration experts have long been concerned about the effects of air-borne pollutants on the city’s statues and monuments.
Nitrates, heavy metals and sulphur dioxide - and not CO2 - are the main culprits for eroding and discolouring the marble and bronze masterpieces.

Via ANSA