(ANSA) - Rome, December 24 - Drivers in Rome faced traffic chaos on Thursday after parts of the road running alongside the river Tiber were closed due to bird excrement. Thursday's light rainfall - the first in the capital in several weeks - mixed with the excrement to make the road surface particularly slippery, causing an accident near Ponte Garibaldi at 8.30am local time. Traffic police closed the stretches of riverside road between Lungotevere della Farnesina and Lungotevere Raffaello Sanzio and between Lungotevere dei Tebaldi and Lungotevere de' Cenci in the historic centre.

The closure caused traffic jams as Romans tried to make their last-minute Christmas purchases.

