Alessandro Gassmann launches Romasonoio campaign.

Rome actor Alessandro Gassmann, son of the director, film and theatre star Vittorio Gassmann, has launched a twitter campaign calling on Romans to lend a hand cleaning up their city whose decay has recently made headlines around the world.

The hashtag #Romasonoio (I am Rome) is a rally cry for Romans to take matters into their own hands by taking to the streets with brushes and bin bags.

Since its launch on 26 July, Gassmann's people-power initiative has been met with a largely positive response from Rome residents, some of whom have posted pictures of themselves cleaning up their neighbourhoods.

The campaign has been endorsed by the city's beleaguered mayor Ignazio Marino ahead of his cabinet reshuffle expected on 28 July.

The mayor also thanked the Retake Roma movement and its volunteers for their daily work cleaning the city's streets. Retake Roma has itself backed Gassmann's initiative, tweeting that "activism and positivity will save Rome."

There are numerous tweets in English, many of them in response to the recent critical article in The New York Times about the state of Rome.

However not all the responses towards Gassmann's campaign have been positive, with some people complaining that Romans already pay for public services to collect the city's rubbish.