(ANSA) - Traffic was banned from the streets of Rome on Sunday in a bid to reduce pollution and boost environmental awareness. Cyclists cruised and families strolled around the city centre with the ban covering tourist hot spots such as the areas around the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
Several other Italian cities also turned their streets over to pedestrians, including Naples and Bari in the south and Macerata and Pontedera in the north.
Such car bans, dubbed 'Ecological Sundays', are regularly adopted by local authorities in an attempt to reduce smog.
In Rome, it was the second Ecological Sunday this year. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni praised the initiative, saying an "extraordinary" number of citizens had taken part in the event.
"Hundreds of Roman families turned out which shows just how popular these car-free days are with people," he said. He said such initiatives were extremely helpful in bringing down pollution levels, even if only temporarily.
Organisers of the event also unveiled an electric moped which they said would be on the market next year. The moped can reach a speed of 110 kilometres an hour and travel up to 100 kilometres before having to be recharged. The city councillor responsible for the environment,
Dario Esposito, underscored the importance of such inventions but also urged Romans to take up cycling.
"More and more people are using bicycles and not just on days like today. It's something that should be encouraged with specific policies," he said.
Car-free Sundays were first introduced in 2000 and proved immediately popular with Italians. They were regularly held across the country, often with more than 150 cities taking part, up until 2003. But they also drew criticism from environmental groups, which argued that more effective and long-term action against car pollution was required.
The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 15,000 people die in Italy every year because of car-exhaust fumes.
