In the center of Rome traffic still rumbles over roughly hewn, basalt cobblestones -- just as it did four centuries ago.
But now the square-topped stones used in the city since the 17th century are gradually being replaced by layers of smooth asphalt, amid concerns about maintenance costs and damage to the monuments and palaces that line the Italian capital's streets.
Over the next two months the City Council plans to resurface one major central thoroughfare, Via Delle Botteghe Oscure, and stretches of the roads that run alongside the River Tiber, as part of a broader plan to restrict the use of cobblestones to pedestrian areas, city officials said.
The plan excites mixed feelings among Romans, fed up with driving their scooters over the potholed cobbled roads but attached to the picturesque stones, known locally as sampietrini, or "little stones of St. Peter's."
When the plan was reported last week, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said that the sampietrini in Piazza Venezia -- a large square in the historic heart of Rome -- would be left in place.
Several reasons have been given for the replacement of the cobblestones.
Italo Fazio, the official in charge of Rome's roads, said the main problem is the labor-intensive and costly work needed to lay and maintain the stones, which frequently get displaced creating gaping, hazardous potholes.
Fazio said there are only around eight people left trained to hammer the stones into place, a task that requires considerable skill and "no little muscle," while supplies of the cobblestones themselves have been stretched in recent years as the last workshops producing them closed down.
The stones were produced from deposits of volcanic rock, petrified lava that once spewed from the hills around Rome.
Though sampietrini that are removed or damaged are recycled, the city resorted to importing machine-made cobblestones from China amid efforts to spruce up the Rome for the jubilee celebrations in 2000. Fazio said that the experiment was unpopular and had not been repeated.
He also pointed to the vibrations triggered when buses or trucks pass over the sampietrini, which are laid directly onto earth.
Maurizio Galletti, an official at the Culture Ministry responsible for Rome's architectural heritage, said the vibrations had damaged some of the city center's grand Renaissance palaces and caused small fissures in the frescoes that adorn their interiors.
"It's difficult to find a balance in protecting the city's landscape," Galletti said. But he argued that the protection of the city's monuments, which suffer "continuous damage" from the vibrations, must be a priority.
Galletti said that to guard against further damage, cobbles should be removed from the congested Piazza Venezia and Via dei Fori Imperiali, which cuts through the Roman Forum, the ruins of the center of ancient Rome.
Fabrizio D'Andrea, a spokesman for Rome City Hall, said that there were no plans for now to replace the cobblestones on these sites.
Romans say that the cobbles contribute to the atmosphere in the city, though some have grown tired of negotiating the sampietrini with cars, scooters or high heels, and accept the plan to scale down their use.
"My heart aches, but if it's really necessary ...," 35-year-old shopkeeper Andrea Orlandi said.
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