You can now get the latest news about traffic, culture, events and services in Rome in the form of SMS messages sent to your mobile phone. The initiative, which includes such information as the opening hours of exhibitions, booking numbers for concerts, pollution levels and imminent vehicle bans, is being given a six-month trial and is free.

To register for the service, which has been launched by the city council in collaboration with Vodafone Omnitel, you should send the word ROMA as an SMS message from your mobile phone to the number 4399021 if you are a client of Vodafone Omnitel, or to 340/4399021 if you use a different operator. You will receive a reply containing your user name and password and be asked to select the categories you are interested in: news, events, services or traffic. Alternatively you can sign up via the city council web site at www.comune.roma.it. For more information call the central help line on tel. 060606 or see www.comune.roma.it.