Rop Saltberg
'Yes. Now you want a photo?The American tourist has the plastic sword pushed into her hands as she toils up the stairs at the Colosseum. The Roman soldier pushes her toward a concrete ledge at the top of the stairs. 'Come on. We do it here!' A minute later, the memorial photo with sword and all was taken and the tourist was five euros poorer.
Three fellow soldiers look on with a grin. The centurion wearing leather sandals, red capes and plastic harnesses and spying excitedly at the next tourist who has to take a picture with them. They are, after all, only just back around the steps of the huge Roman amphitheatre. That happened after a judge ruled that the municipality of Rome cannot keep the fake soldiers at the Colosseum with an emergency ordinance.
security risk
It was instituted a year and a half ago due to special security measures for the Holy Year of The Vatican. Apart from a certain security risk, the money extortioners were centurion symbol for the decline of Rome's image, the city council believed. The fake soldiers harassed tourists, who alternately paid five to fifty euros for the memorial photo.
The emergency ordinance was extended three times, under threat of a fine of 400 euros for each violation. But last week a judge found enough after dozens of soldiers - now united in an artists' cooperative - appealed. The municipality should first make a local law for these street artists, the judge ruled.
Process costs
This paved the way for the immediate return of the centurion at the Colosseum. ‘We have to, we have incurred so many legal costs,' grumbles a soldier with a heavy Neapolitan accent. But the other artists look suspiciously at my camera, which doesn't earn them five euros per photo. 'What do you want with it? Why all those photos?'
Under threat of four Roman fake swords, two of plastic and two of wood, this report ends.
Photo: Rop Zoutberg
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