Mayor of Rome announces plans to redevelop Tiber river.

Rome will have an artificial beach on the banks of the river Tiber next summer, according to plans announced by the city's mayor Virginia Raggi on 14 December.
The proposal envisages transforming 10,000 sqm of riverside land near Ponte Marconi into a sandy beach – based on the Parisian model – with the addition of sporting areas.
The plan to reclaim the once abandoned land, between the S. Paolo and Marconi districts south of the city centre, is part of a wider redevelopment project to make the Tiber "more usable" for Rome residents.
Acknowledging that Rome's river does not represent "a living and pulsating part of the city unlike many European capitals", Raggi said the beach initiative is the first step in the Tiber's "path of recovery."
Central to the plan is the establishment of a special Tiber office to allow for collaboration between the numerous authorities responsible for the upkeep of the river, pooling information across a range of issues including the environment, dredging, security, flooding, cycle paths, illegal camps and dumping.
Raggi said her administration is also looking into the installation of a 12.5-km riverside cycle track to connect the capital with the coast at Fiumicino. Other projects being examined include weeding riverbanks and disinfecting for mosquitoes using biological methods.
This is not the first time that Rome will have a man-made beach on the Tiber: in 2005 former mayor Walter Veltroni launched the Tevere Village beach under Castel S. Angelo, between Ponte S. Angelo and Ponte Umberto I.

Photo ANSA