English-language emblem causes controversy

Rome has dropped the "Capitale" from its traditional "Roma Capitale" logo and as of 11 February it has a new logo - two in fact.

The first logo is for institutional use and is a modified version of the old one - featuring ROMA beside the gold-crowned red shield with SPQR but minus the Capitale.

The other logo however, designed for marketing purposes, is causing a furore on social media and among Rome's politicians. It too features the red shield but its crown is replaced with five coloured balls and the motto "Rome & You".

The city has also dropped Rome's well-known symbol, the bronze statue of the wolf on the Capitoline hill that featured in the previous re-branding of the capital's image in 2012, under former mayor Gianni Alemanno. That image comprised the word Roma in gold and red letters with a stylised wolf on a column. It has been replaced by the new Rome & You image, part of a re-branding campaign that cost the city €20,000.

Rome's mayor Ignazio Marino says the logo envokes a "poistive attitude towards a city that is considered Caput Mundi, the Eternal City, which needs no other adjectives or nouns."

Critics however have scorned the use of English at the expense of Italian, and claim the image is light-weight. Opposition politician Alessandro Onorato accused the mayor of abandoning the wolf and history in favour of a crown of Christmas baubles and a slogan more suitable for a box of chocolates than the capital of Italy.

The Rome & You logo follows the recent launch of the VeryBello website for Milan's Expo 2015, which provoked similar criticism.

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