Ban on traders around St Peter's for Holy Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Rome commissioner Francesco Paolo Tronca has signed a decree banning souvenir stalls and mobile sandwich-bars from the area around St Peter's Square for the duration of the Vatican's Holy Jubilee Year of Mercy, which begins on 8 December.

The order, signed on 3 December in the interests of security, will see the traders' activities relocated to designated spaces further away from St Peter’s Square.

The area affected is divided into five sectors. In the "Level Zero" area, in Piazza Pio XII between Via della Conciliazione and St Peter's Square, all commercial activity will be banned completely during the Jubilee.

In the other areas, Levels 1-4, traders will be moved only on special Vatican occasions. The four areas include Via della Conciliazione and adjacent streets as far as Largo Giovanni XXIII; the area around the main entrance to Castel S. Angelo; Via di Porta Angelica; and Piazza Risorgimento.

The ban takes effect from 7 December, the day before the Jubilee begins, and ends on 20 November next year, the final day of the Jubilee.

The decree is the latest in a series of other clampdowns on street vendors at other tourist sites in Rome.