Move coincides with the Jubilee Year in Rome.

Rome is to boost security in the area around the central Termini train station and in the surrounding Esquilino district as part of a crackdown on crime.

The measures were announced on Tuesday after a meeting of the provincial committee for public order and security, attended by the city's prefect Lamberto Giannini and mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

Authorities also said they are assessing the possibility of increasing security in streets around Tuscolana train station, with more details set to be announced in the coming days.

Italian media reported recently that Italy's interior ministry was preparing to declare the area around Termini a zona rossa, or "red zone", which would give police greater powers to expel criminals from the area.

However Gualtieri on Tuesday spoke out against this approach, saying that "red zones come and go and simply risk moving illegal activity from one part of the city to another".

Instead the mayor pointed to putting structural measures in place to raise security in the city, adding that he believed Rome should be "a large zona bianca [white zone] where everyone can move around safely".

The stepping up of security coincides with the Vatican's Jubilee Year which will see an estimated influx of more than 32 million visitors in Rome, many of whom will pass through Termini.

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