By Alessandra Rizzo, news reporter

Wild boars roaming the streets. Potholes deep enough to fall into. And, where gladiators once marched toward the Colosseum, heaps of stinking rubbish.

Rome is a mess.

Its ancient ruins may still stand but the Italian capital is crumbling under years of mismanagement, corruption and indifference.

What has happened to the Eternal City

"In Rome there isn't one single problem," says Massimiliano Tonelli, whose group - Roma Fa Schifo (Rome Is Disgusting) - chronicles the city's degradation on social media.


"In Rome nothing works."

Urban decay has long plagued the city, but Romans say things have not been this bad in a long time. And they are fed up: Thousands are expected at a demonstration this weekend.

"Let's get this straight: Rome is aching," says Emma Amiconi, of the group All For Rome, Rome For all, which has organised Saturday's protest.

"We want to say that this is enough," she says.

Image: Garbage by the Pantheon, which was built almost 2,000 years ago. Pic: Roma Fa Schifo

Ordinary citizens, rather than political parties, are behind the initiative, Ms Amiconi says.

And while the city has long suffered with poor transport and the upkeep of its artistic treasures, many are raging at the current administration, led by Mayor Virginia Raggi.

A political newcomer and member of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement that is now in power in Italy, Mrs Raggi was elected in 2016 with promises to do away with cronyism and graft.

But she has failed to deliver fast enough.

"Drowning in garbage, strangled by traffic and with such potholes that one doesn't even find in Kabul's outskirts", was how the usually sober newspaper Corriere della Sera summed up the current state of the Italian capital.

Rome's disastrous infrastructure gained a horrifying example recently, when video captured the collapse of an escalator in the metro system. Dozens of visiting football fans were injured.

In another notorious case from May, an aging bus burst into flames in the city centre, a short walk from the Trevi Fountain and the seat of the Italian national government.

Bus bursts into flames near the Trevi fountain

Rome's pride and its prospects are bruised further by the departure of several companies, which prefer its northern rival, Milan. Youth unemployment in the capital runs at 40%, according to the Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

At least tourism is up, with those age-old charms - the Roman Forum, Baroque fountains, delicious food - still attracting hordes.

Yet few come back, according to a hotel association, Federalberghi. Its president, Giuseppe Roscioli, said that unlike London or Paris, Rome has a troublingly low number of "repeaters". It's not only the lousy transport, he said, but also the lack of "urban decorum".

Image: Garbage collection has long been a problem. This picture, at the Arch of Constantine, is from 2015

Image: Tourists still flock to the city, but many don't come back

Rome's greenery is shockingly unkempt too, with grass sometimes knee-high.

Parts of the park surrounding Castel Sant'Angelo, one of the biggest tourist attractions a few steps away from the Vatican, has been closed for months and has only recently re-opened.

Hail and rain swamp a Rome metro escalator

A mere hour of rain can paralyse the city and flood streets, while tree roots create perilous bumps in footpaths. As for roadways, they're often pitch black at night due to broken lampposts.

Not even a Christmas tree erected by city officials last year brought Romans much relief: the threadbare display was likened to a toilet brush or a plucked chicken.

Image: Wild boars roaming a park in Rome. Pic: Clistere della Sera

Image: Sea gulls feasting on uncollected garbage Pic: Roma Fa Schifo

Image: Potholes near the 2,000-year-old Ara Pacis. Pic: Enzo Merlina

It's enough to astonish even Romans, a pretty cynical bunch who tended to sigh at their crumbling surroundings, preferring to down a cup of coffee and take solace in the fact that they live in one of the world's most beautiful cities.

Not anymore. Lately, citizens are taking action.

One resident, Cristiano Davoli, founded a group called Tappami, (Patch Me Up), filling potholes and urging citizens to mark the holes with yellow paint and call him.

Image: Rome's streets are full of potholes

Image: Fallen trees and tree roots make for a dangerous walk on Rome's streets

Blogs, Facebook groups and Twitter accounts showing the city's shameful decay draw the attention of many.

Mr Tonelli's group receives dozens of reports every day, he says. The group, created eight years ago, has grown to have 158,000 followers on Twitter and almost 180,000 likes on Facebook.

Many Romans still don't realise that "this is an anomaly, this doesn't happen in other European cities," says Mr Tonelli.

"We are trying to awaken their conscience".

Image: Virginia Raggi blames past administrations

As for the mayor, she says the city's problems predate her, blaming previous administrations, as well as a web of corruption involving mobsters and city hall officials that was uncovered years ago in a huge investigation.

That probe, known as Mafia Capitale, exposed a criminal ring in which politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen hooked up with organised crime to rig public tenders and secure lucrative contracts. The systematic corruption is widely seen as one of the causes of Rome's disrepair.

Mr Tonelli acknowledges that outraged Romans are only a minority, and not enough to spark significant change. But, he says, "today several thousand more people understand how things are".

"What's maddening," he laments, "is that Rome - thanks to its geography, its art, its weather - could be the wealthiest city in Europe."

"Instead, no European city is reduced to this state."