Rome City Council Approves AS Roma's Stadium Plans

Rome City Council on Tuesday approved a public-interest norm on Serie A side AS Roma's planned stadium in the Tor di Valle district "after its size was halved" and works for the city worth €120M ($135.4M) were added on, according to ANSA. Sources said that the norm "will be voted on by the city assembly next week." Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said that he "would not, and could not, intervene on Rome's heritage superintendency's decision to designate the stadium site as an area to be preserved because of its historical interest." The superintendency's ruling is "one of the hurdles" facing the multi-billion euro project. Initially it was opposed by Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi and her anti-establishment, 5-Star Movement (M5S), but the M5S "dropped its opposition after the project was radically changed and downsized" (ANSA, 6/6).