The 6 November will be the last ecological Sunday of the year in Rome, with central areas of the city normally only open to limited traffic (the Ztl) closed to all private traffic from 10.00 18.00.

For information on the areas to be closed see www.comune.roma.it.

The Roman atmosphere seems to be improving this year; the legal limit for air pollution set by the European Union was exceeded on 195 days in the first ten months of 2004 and on only 95 days in the same period this year, an achievement, even though the levels set by the E.U. should not officially be exceeded on more than 35 days in a year.

A ban on coke-fuelled central heating boilers which came into effect on 1 September should also help improve the citys air this winter; records show that some 50,000 people in Rome still rely on this very polluting form of heating. The ban was imposed three years ago and now city police are inspecting buildings where these boilers are known to have been used and any that have not been converted to gas are being sealed. Romans have legally been allowed to turn on their central heating boilers since 1 November but unseasonably warm weather has meant that few people have done so.