Rome celebrates the anniversary or anniversary year every 25 years. A time of redemption and complete enjoyment, reconciliation, conversion and repentance. An extraordinary moment for the Catholic Church that begins on December 24th with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and the Pope's phrase, repeated in the same ritual since the 15th century: “This is the gate of the Lord, through whom the righteous enter However, this door can also be the hole through which all the worldly sins of a city doomed to chaos and mischievousness slip when the public concession period begins and tourists show up. Rome is preparing to receive millions of visitors (25 million in 2020), according to City Hall estimates, most of them pilgrims who want to celebrate such a special moment. And this involves dozens of uncomfortable jobs, an unaffordable increase in rent prices for families, an increase in accommodation prices and shadows of corruption in public contracts. The city council is already covering the election costs that will be incurred.
The city must prepare for the big festival. And the city council, led by the social democrat Roberto Gualtieri, has around 1,800 million euros to launch more than a hundred projects, including the expansion of the subway (with a station in Piazza Venezia, planned since the seventies). a wide pedestrian promenade between Castel Sant'Angelo and San Pietro – with an underground passage – or the restoration of the canopy of the basilica, a work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which will cost around 700,000 euros. In addition to the inconvenience for residents, some associations and experts warn of the risk of infiltration by corrupt organizations and mafias if these works are carried out bypassing the usual emergency controls.
The Satta Romano law firm, one of the country's largest specialists in administrative law, has been warning about this issue for months. Anna Romano, one of her partners, emphasizes that the urgent procedures used to put the work out to tender can harm quality. “They lower the controls and the problem is that we then have a worse end product. The anniversary works have a meaning that goes beyond the event: trams, roads, installations… actions that, if not carried out well, cause problems. And moving quickly also reduces the intensity of controls, increasing the risk of mafia infiltration and corruption. In Rome it is particularly serious because there is overlap between PNNR (the funds for the post-pandemic recovery plan) and the anniversary. “There is a lot of pressure on the government to make these concessions,” he emphasizes, pointing to a historical problem with mafias in Italy. However, the main difficulty, in addition to the work, will be accommodation. At least for tourists and residents who are looking for an apartment on these dates.
From 2,800 to 12,000 euros per month
The capital of Italy has been a jungle of holiday accommodation for years. Most of the buildings in the center have already lost a large proportion of their neighbors and have been converted into tourist apartments or small automated hostels. Signs advertising these tiny establishments can be seen at almost every gate. The owners prefer this to a long-term rental, which comes with problems and a significantly lower return. In 2023, around 20,000 short-term contracts were signed in Rome, twice the standard (five years). Fabrizia Preli, for example, owner of a 180 square meter apartment on Cairoli Square in Rome, charged her tenants 2,800 euros in rent until a year ago. When the contract ended, he explained, he decided not to renew it because he thought he would earn more if he rented out the apartment on Airbnb. “Now I rent it for 550 euros per night. This means that I can earn around 12,000 euros in a month if I am employed for around 20 nights. Of course there will be more during the anniversary,” he predicts.
The trend is general, as real estate agencies point out. And it has become a problem for Rome residents, who have enormous difficulty finding accommodation in the center or near a metro station. “It is an unprecedented crisis. There is a shortage of housing, and the owners, conscious of their unique homes, do what they want and charge what they want. The increase was at least 10% last year. And they also ask for all kinds of short contracts, 18 months, guarantees… A somewhat tragic situation, to be honest,” says Daniela Manco, real estate agent at the company Engel & Völkers.
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The lack of controls on unlicensed properties has favored the proliferation of this type of business, which has become a recurring financial tool for families who can afford to buy a home for this purpose. According to the city council, there are currently 12,000 illegal accommodations. In addition, Rome had another 17,950 tourist apartments in 2019, increasing to 22,828 in 2023 in view of the anniversary. The government has boosted the situation through short-term rental measures approved in Parliament. “You need a special license. But there aren't many controls. Everyone who owns a house wants to rent it out on a short-term basis. There has been a bloodbath in the pandemic. Everyone who had four or five apartments for rent for 2,000 or 3,000 euros remained without this income. And when the pandemic hit, everyone wanted the money back. “The anniversary was the icing on the cake,” emphasizes Manco.
Italy imposed a fine of 576 million euros on the tourist rental platform Airbnb for failing to pay relevant taxes in recent years. And there are increasing voices in Rome's city council calling for some of this money to be used to address the housing crisis. The tenants' association has also applied for this. Mario Breglia, president of the Real Estate Scenarios Institute, confirms that the market has changed radically in the last two years due to the impact of temporary rentals. “Rome is very late with the controls. Previously, short-term rentals were only available in the historic center. Then they grew and today they affect the entire city, much more than in other European cities. As long as there is a subway station nearby, everything is a short rental. It's an impressive phenomenon because there are no houses. And that means students or young couples cannot find accommodation. And that affects the entire city.”
The anniversary is the impetus for the transformation of Rome and the possibility of allocating state funding for public works, after the loss of the opportunity to host Expo 2030. However, it can also be the last straw that breaks the camel's back and condemns its weakest neighbors.
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