Roberto Benigni in his underwear (for Woody Allen's new film) and the city's dirty laundry both on display (because of Mayor Alemanno and Assessor Bordoni's policies)

Does anyone realize what kind of city will be seen in the movie Woody Allen is making these days? A city swamped by the mafia of illegal billboards. Look at the background of this scene where 10 1x1 meter billboards are visible. All of them are illegal, they are all horrible and they are in Rome's first municipality, a Unesco World Heritage site. All should be removed to restore Via Veneto's lost dignity.
What we really need is for a New York's great director to say something against these billboards. We say this because our readers log in from everywhere including film studios. Wouldn't it be great if he simply said "you can't film anything in Rome without including a billboard. In New York at least it's only Times Square. How can you live like that?"
Such an exclamation could help us bring this modern-day Sack of Rome to an international public.
We already know that many production companies (mostly in advertising) are already avoiding Rome because of its visual pollution. It wouldn't be a bad thing if Mr. Allen let everyone know about this disgusting crap on every sidewalk, the movies would flee as well.
Go on, Woody. Give a nice kick in the ass to our governing officials that crawl like lemmings onto your set to kiss your hand! And these visual obstacle to your work aren't simply advertisements or visual pollution but organized crime.

It would make a good movie!

Symbol of italian culture...

 

Here we are in Largo Leonardo da Vinci. This is how the greatest mind of the Renaissance, a symbol of italian culture and pride, is honored in the city of Rome.

Please contact the following authorities and newspapers and ask them to act now and put an end to this rape of our city!

Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno through his website at: http://www.alemanno.it/it/contatti/default.aspx

His Chief of Commerce (in italian assessore) at: davide.bordoni@comune.roma.it

The Province of Rome at: info@provincia.roma.it

The Italian Ministry of Tourism at: stampa.turismo@governo.it

The editors of two of Italy's leading newspapers:

La Repubblica - v.zucconi@gmail.com

Il Giornale - redazione.web@ilgiornale.it

FEEL FREE TO WRITE TO THEM IN ENGLISH, THEY WILL GET THE GIST, REFER THEM TO THE CARTELLOPOLI WEBSITE SO THEY CAN SEE FOR THEMSELVES. THANK YOU!

WHO ARE WE?

Friends! Romans! Countrymen!

Cartellopoli is a blog for publishing and archiving the news, photos and statements of Rome's citizens, visitors and allies who are determined to fight the plague of advertising billboards which have literally laid waste to the city's landscape under the current city administration of Mayor Gianni Alemanno.

Rome is the only city in the west which has been transformed into a wild west where streets, squares, gardens, parks, archeological areas, monuments as well as masterworks of contemporary architecture are completely surrounded by endless and motley walls of more or less illegal billboards of every size and dimension.

It is Cartellopoli's mission to stimulate the debate by publishing photos, providing a forum for neighborhood committees and encouraging dialogue with those who work in the sector, with politicians and with our institutions.

Now, with Cartellopoli in English we wish to inform the public worldwide of this shameful situation, inflicted upon a city loved and admired around the globe like no other. It is our sincere hope that you will join us and make your voice heard by contacting Mayor Alemanno, Italy's tourism bureaus and embassies, the travel section of your local newspaper or travel blog as well as the President of Italy. We believe that  an international campaign, raising awareness of the situation can simply shame our local authorities into meaningful action. That's why every email you send out, every facebook friend you inform will surely add to an ever-louder chorus of condemnation and an unstoppable call to put an end to this travesty.

Cartellopoli's goal is exclusively this: for the city of Rome to once more have public advertising to a degree which is comparable to that of Europe's principal cities. Cartellopoli is not politically aligned with any party, confession or economic interest of any kind.