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Ryder Cup: Video posted by Rome mayor mixes up Colosseum with Arena of Nîmes

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

12 Apr, 2021

Rome mayor ridiculed for social media gaffe.

Rome is hosting the Ryder Cup 2023 and in preparation for the major international golfing event the city's mayor, Virginia Raggi, launched a promotional video.

Too bad that the video, posted on the mayor's Facebook page, mixed up the Colosseum with the Arena of Nîmes, in France, leading to widespread ridicule on social media.

The mayor, a member of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) who is seeking a second term of office in elections later this year, also came in for harsh criticism from opposition politicians.

Golf: Rome Ryder Cup postponed until 2023

"Can a person who, after five years being the mayor does not even recognise the Colosseum, reapply for the leadership of Rome? No," Andrea Casu, secretary of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) in the capital told newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Luciano Nobili, a deputy in the centrist Italia Viva (IV) party, claimed that "not even a child in primary school would make this mistake."

Ryder Cup comes to Rome

The video was edited last night, with the Nîmes Arena replaced by an image of a Roman church, reports online newspaper RomaToday.

Italy's first Ryder Cup is scheduled at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Guidonia Montecelio, north-east of Rome, from 25 September until 1 October 2023.