Rat emergency at Roman Forum

(ANSA) - Rome, March 2 - One of the ticket booths for the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill near to the Colosseum was closed on Wednesday due to a rat emergency that has hit the area and the Palazzo Massimo museum near Rome's central Termini station, Archeology Superintendent Francesco Prosperetti said.
    Prosperetti said it was a "big problem" that the superintendency "cannot address" on its own. "A rat got trapped in a gap on the roof (of the ticket office) and the staff member who was working there saw blood drip on the desk," Prosperetti said. The ticket office, which is new, was closed for pest-control operations. He said that rats were a problem all over the city and that a similar situation at Palazzo Massimo had led to a union meeting.