Instead of prayer it was time for snowball fights for some priests at the Vatican on Feb 26. as an unusual snowfall blanketed St. Peter’s square.

A rare snow storm in Rome disrupted transport, shut down schools and prompted the authorities to call in the army to help clear the streets.

Only one runway was operating at Rome‘s main airport, Fiumicino. The Italian capital’s second airport, Ciampino, was closed overnight and workers were clearing a runway to allow it to reopen on Monday morning.

It was the heaviest snowfall in Rome in six years and the largest for the end of February in decades. The city, which is not equipped to deal with snow emergencies due to their rarity, asked other areas to send in snow ploughs to help clear roads.

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Alessandro Ponti was seen carrying his skis up the Spanish steps in central Rome, he said he made a point of always coming to Rome to celebrate snowfall. For him it had particular importance in 2018 as he would be leaving work to go on pension in a couple of days.

Schools were ordered closed in the Italian capital and many people could not reach their places of work. Police asked residents to stay at home if possible.

Tourists were out taking selfies in all the main areas of the city and images filmed from a police helicopter showed Rome blanketed in white.