ROME, Italy—Friends, Romans and countrymen visiting Italy’s capital bore witness to a historic event on Friday—the first heavy snowfall in Rome in 24 years.
The mild Mediterranean climate usually deprives beautiful Rome of the white pleasures of winter. When the snow fell on Friday, it caught most of the city’s population unprepared, but happily surprised.
Many stood at windows gazing outside, or ran into the streets to take pictures of the wet snow falling heavily on the streets and covering the usually green palm trees.
There were also a number of people who were afraid of the uncommon weather. Offices in the Italian capital remained largely empty in the early afternoon as employees hurried to reach their homes worrying that the snow would block roads.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and traffic continued to flow. By evening almost all the white cover had vanished and the city returned to normal.
The mild Mediterranean climate usually deprives beautiful Rome of the white pleasures of winter. When the snow fell on Friday, it caught most of the city’s population unprepared, but happily surprised.
Many stood at windows gazing outside, or ran into the streets to take pictures of the wet snow falling heavily on the streets and covering the usually green palm trees.
There were also a number of people who were afraid of the uncommon weather. Offices in the Italian capital remained largely empty in the early afternoon as employees hurried to reach their homes worrying that the snow would block roads.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and traffic continued to flow. By evening almost all the white cover had vanished and the city returned to normal.