Italian environmentalists are worried about safeguarding the environment? Really?

Many Italian environmentalists, like other people around the world, are very worried about protecting the environment.  But what about the 2,200 “nasoni” (big noses), the little water fountains that can be found pretty well ALL over Rome, the ones that 24 hours per day and 365 days per year spew out crystal clear (drinkable) water?  Isn't that a TOTAL waste of precious resources?

And what must many poor Africans say, the very same people who have to walk several miles every day to fetch clean water?   They must naturally think that Italians are a bunch of screwballs (apparently, more than one war has been started over the lack of clean water).    No way of putting a tap on these fountains so that ALL this water isn’t uselessly wasted?  Oh sure, when you go jogging during the hot summer months (like I do) these small fountains can be convenient, but with over 2,000 of them in Rome that EVERY single day spew out all this fresh water, isn't it simply a total waste of the precious stuff?

Many years ago Rome dog owners complained in the local papers that when they take for a walk, especially during the summer months, their beloved mutts, if they were to put a tap on the nasoni (thus preventing the waste of water), then their dogs wouldn't have fresh running water as the water would be boiling and would stagnate in the fountains’ tubes!  

What did Einstein once say, that there are only two things which are infinite in the world, the universe and man's stupidity?  I mean, really, just think of what a poor African must think upon hearing those totally insane words….

(A "nasone" at Via Pandosia in Rome) 

(Another "nasone" at Via Numidia in Rome) 

(Three other "nasoni" at Via Tracia in Rome) 

(Three "nasoni" in Rome's Villa Celimontana) 

(A nasone at Piazza Tuscolo) 

(These five nasoni are located in Piazza Re di Roma in Rome.  They're not about 50 meters from each other too.  Thank God that one of them doesn't even work!)

(This nasone is on Via Appia Nuova, and about 200 meters from the five fountains at Piazza Re di Roma!)

(A nasone at Via Flaminia in Rome)

 

   

(A nasone at Via Marcello Prestinari in Rome)

(A nasone in Via Tomacelli in Rome) 

(And one in Piazza ai Monte d'Oro in Rome)

(And how about one in Vicolo della Vaccarella in Rome?)

(A nice one right next to the Italian senate, in Via degli Staderari in Rome)

(A nasone at Via Imera in Rome)

(And one near my place at Via Ceneda in Rome)

(A nasone in Via Fabriano in Rome's San Basilio neighborhood) 

(And one in Via Morrovalle in Rome's San Basilio neighborhood) 

(A nasone in front of Rome's military hospital at the Celio, Piazza Celimontana) 

(A nasone at Via Annia in Rome)

(A nasone at Via Di S. Vito in Rome)

(And one at Via Paolina in Rome)
 

(The fountain at Piazza Barberini in Rome)

(And also merrily playing away with water at the nasone at Via della Posta Vecchia nera Piazza Navona in Rome)

(A nasone at Via di S. Nicola De' Cesarini in Rome)
 

(The nasone at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome)

(Another nasone at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome, about 100 meters from the one above)

(One in the central Piazza Venezia. While perhaps not per se a "nasone", it does nevertheless throw out clear, clean water 24 hours per day!)

 

(A nasone in Via della Lungaretta, in the Trastevere part of Rome)

 (Another one in the Trastevere part of Rome) 

(So much also for the Vatican telling us to conserve water.  This one is at Largo del Colonnato, right next to the Vatican!)

(A nasone in Via Orazio in Rome)

(A nasone in Piazza Zama in Rome)

(Here below two nasoni at the Giardino Pantalica in Rome)

 (A nasone at Via Aquitania in Rome)

 

 (A nasone at Via Latina in Rome)

(A nasone at the market at Piazza Epiro in Rome)

(A nasone right on front of the Baths of Caracalla and FAO hqs in Rome)

 (And one near Rome's Circus Maximus)  

 (Three nasoni on the famous Appia Antica in Rome)  

(And the "Mother" of all nasoni, apparently the very first one built and set-up in central Rome, not too far away from the Quirinale Palace and Piazza Venezia!)

 (A nasone on the central Via Nazionale in Rome)

 

(Two nasoni located in the courtyard of the Visconti high school in central Rome)

 (A rather particular nasone-fountain on Via Lata in central Rome)

 (A nasone on Via dei Sabelli in Rome)

  (And one on Via dei Marsi in Rome)

  (And another one at Via dei Lucani in Rome)

  (A nasone at Via di Porta Castello in Rome)

 

  (A nasone in Piazza Sauli in Rome)

  (A nasone in Via Giustino De Jacobis in Rome)

  (A nasone in Via Filippo Tolli in Rome)

 

  (A nasone in Via Rosa Raimondi Garibaldi in Rome)

   

(A nasone in Via Appia Antica in Rome)

(A nasone at Via Diana in Rome)

(And one in Via Dei Tribuni in Rome)

 

(And one in Via Alessandria in Rome)

(And another one in Via Mantova in Rome)

(And how about one in Via Cagliari in Rome)

(And also one in Via Magna Grecia in Rome)

(And one in Via del Merano in Rome)

(And two just a few meters apart in Viale Manlio Germozzi in Rome)

(And one in Via De' Catinari in Rome)

(Another "mother of all fountains" in Via De' Catinari in Rome)

(A nasone in Via G. Carini in Rome)

(And one in Via di S. Pancrazio in Rome)

(And one in Viale Pietro Canonica inside Rome's Villa Borghese)

(And one in Via Statilia in Rome)

(And another one in Via Panisperna in Rome)

(How about one at Largo della Polveriera in Rome)

(And one in Via Eleniana in Rome)

 (And another one in Via degli Ausoni in Rome)

(And one in Piazza Mastai in Rome)

(And one in Piazza del Risorgimento in Rome)

 (And one in Via Germanico in Rome)

 (And another one in Via Pompero Magno in Rome)

(And one in Via Jacopa De' Settesoli in Rome)

(And another one at Via Merulana)

(And yet another one on Via Panama)

(Parco degli Acquedotti)

 

 (Off the Casilina)

 

(Via La Spezia)

 

(Near Piazza Navona)

(At Ponte Milvio)

(At a park near the Baths of Caracalla)

(Near the American Academy in Rome)

(Two nasoni, one near the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Basilica and the other one near Porta Metronia)

(A nasone near Palazzo Chigi)

(And two next to each other near the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme Basilica of Rome)

(A nasone at Piazza Epiro)

(Two nasoni near the Appica Antica)

Tight security in Rome, really?

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Tight security in Rome after the Ottawa tragedy?

I took these pics on Monday.  After the Ottawa tragedy and the death of the poor Canadian soldier at the War Memorial, many around the world began asking themselves, “But could this happen to us”?

The monument is located in central Rome, the “Vittoriano” which is also known as the “Nation’s Alter” (they say that all distances from Rome are taken from this monument).  It’s also called, by Anglophones, the “Upside Wedding Cake” or “Typewriter”.  It contains the remains of the Unknown Soldier, a sacred place just as much as the War Memorial in Ottawa.

But is security tight after that terrorist attack? Not really:  you can climb right up to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is guarded day and night by two Italian soldiers.  There’s a chain-linked fence, if you can call it that, which doesn’t really protect the two soldiers from would-be assassins or lunatics that want to take a swing at them (or also damage the tomb).  

And security at the entrance of the tomb? A bit of a joke, with a Carabinieri van parked in front (it wasn’t there though on Tuesday when I went by at around 11 am) and with two Carabinieri officers who have much better things to do than to watch over the tomb's entrance, such as checking their cell phones for messages and/or Facebook postings!

(checking the latest soccer results?)

But the “security” doesn’t end there: on November 13^th, 2014 at around noon I went to the Vatican to see the necropolis which lies under St. Peter’s Basilica.  I was told to go to a gate (on the left, facing the Basilica).  There at the gate were two Swiss Guards.  They told me that I could only enter the necropolis thru a prior reservation.  I asked them where to go to make the reservation?  They indicated another gate, but inside the Vatican grounds.  Before doing that though, they told me to go to the nearby police van, about 20 meters away from them, to pass the “security” check.  I went, and there was an Italian police officer with a small portable metal detector.  I had with me a small bag with inside a small digital camera and a flash.  He asked me what I had inside, and I pulled the camera out and then said “I also have a small flash…”, which he didn’t even bother looking at.  Nor did he “wand” me with his metal detector, nor did he check if I had a cell phone (you can’t get in as a visitor with a cell phone at the U.S. Embassy in Rome), nor did he bother checking my other pockets. 

I then went back to the Swiss Guards, and with no special pass from the police officer, I walked some 300 meters to the ticket office where one can make a reservation for the necropolis.  Along the way there were Vatican police officers, but no one bothered stopping me nor asking me where I was going (I only spoke to one asking where the ticket office was).  Along the way I saw a small German cemetery inside the Vatican walls.  I could have even wondered off to the “Sala Nervi”, where Pope Francis also holds his weekly audiences (when the weather is poor).  Had I left home with a few of my press passes around my neck, I could have easily walked around the Vatican and I could have quite easily placed a small radio-controlled explosive device either inside the “Sala Nervi” or inside the cemetery, or even inside the ticket office (there was a foreign couple in front of me making their reservations for the necropolis).

This happened in an area which (apparently) has the 4^th best secret service in the world!