New porcelain zebra crossing on Via Giulia designed to avoid continuous maintenance.

Villa Giulia, one of the most beautiful streets in Rome's historic centre, will soon have a 'permanent' pedestrian crossing with white porcelain stripes nestled among the sampietrini cobblestones.

The idea behind the experimental initiative is to avoid a scenario in which the paint used in zebra crossings eventually loses its colour and has to be repainted, and not always promptly, endangering the life of pedestrians.

The first indelible zebra crossing is being installed in front of the Virgilio school, reports La Repubblica, which pointed out that another such crossing was installed in the central Monti district a number of years ago but remained the only one due to the high costs involved.

The ceramic crossings are produced by a company in Anagni, located about an hour south-east of Rome, and is exported throughout Europe, according to La Repubblica.

An interesting feature of the porcelain is that the material used in its creation is Grestone, a new ceramic stone that includes up to 30 per cent of recyled waste.