Gualtieri says it will take 10 years to profoundly transform the capital.
Rome’s centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri, currently more than halfway through his five-year term, has confirmed his intention to run again in the next municipal elections in 2027.
Gualtieri, speaking at the Skytg24 Live in Rome event at Villa Torlonia on Saturday, said: “To transform a city, you need to introduce profound changes; it takes 10 years of work.”
The mayor, who often appears on social media wearing a hard hat as he inspects building sites, is focusing heavily on construction, using commissioner powers granted to him by the Draghi and Meloni governments.
“At first, it seemed crazy to begin so many projects, but it was a gamble we’re winning”, Gualtieri said, adding that the first “visible and tangible results have shattered the myth that nothing can be changed in Rome.”
Many of the major infrastructure projects related to the city’s preparation for the Vatican’s Jubilee Year, which is drawing to a close, including the Piazza Pia underpass.
Gualtieri, 59, said he was proud of the organisation of last summer’s Jubilee of Youth which put Rome in the international spotlight as the city hosted more than a million pilgrims in just a few days.
As for the planned Roma stadium, “it will be built. The final project will be presented soon. The goal is to have the authorisation process completed before June 2026”, Gualtieri said.
Other massive projects for the future include the opening of the Metro C subway station in Piazza Venezia, the construction of the Santa Palomba waste-to-energy plant, and making the river Tiber suitable for swimming, a goal Gualtieri declared within five years.
If successful in getting re-elected in 2027, Gualtieri would follow in the footsteps of his centre-left predecessors Francesco Rutelli and Walter Veltroni, who both led the capital for a second term, from 1993-2001 and 2001-2008 respectively.
In recent days the former president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) Giovanni Malagò has been touted as a potential contender for the centre-right mayoral candidate to challenge Gualtieri.
Photo credit: Fabrizio Maffei / Shutterstock.com.
