(ANSA) Rome, June 23 - Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino came
under fire Monday for renting the Circus Maximus to the Rolling
Stones for just 8000 euros a short time after asking the central
government to bail out the Eternal City administration.
Northern League MP Marco Rondini said his opposition
party will table a parliamentary question on whether the
symbolic price charged for using the ancient Roman charioteers'
racecourse for the British group's concert on Sunday constitutes
damages to the Italian treasury.
"This free gift by the mayor of Rome is a slap in the face
for citizens of other cities obliged to pay for the deep hole in
Rome's finances caused by incomprehensible choices like this,"
Rondini claimed.
Marino defended the price saying that the costs of the
concert were paid for entirely by the Rolling Stones and that
the concert brought 50,000 people to Rome from outside the city
who spent money in restaurants, hotels and museums.
The Rolling Stones left Rome's Ciampino Airport Monday for
Oslo aboard a Boeing 737.
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