Escape route blocked for fleeing popes

By our Rome correspondent THE secret passageway from the Vatican inside a brick arched viaduct which saved the lives of besieged popes in the 16th century has been judged dangerous and about to collapse. But neither the Vatican nor Rome's city government authorities have responded to appeals to reinforce it.
The so-called "Passetto" is a secret corridor about 300 metres long fortified in the 1500s as a means of escape from the Vatican to the less vulnerable Castel Sant'Angelo fortress overlooking the Tiber.
The arched viaduct currently serves as a series of entrances into one of Rome's busiest mazes of streets and every day hundreds of motorists and pedestrians are risking life and limb by passing under it, according to the Fire . Brigades' Technical Service.
Experts estimate that the "Passetto", already closed to visitors, needs "months of restoration work costing about 15 million". The Vatican has disclaimed responsibility since the viaduct is Roman territory and not within the Holy See. Rome is currently without a city government pending elections next month and has "no spare cash anyway" according to a spokesman.
"While everybody plays at Pontius Pilate one of Rome's most historic landmarks is crumbling", was the comment of the city's cultural superintendence department.
"We haven't the money either", it added.