The Colosseum area of Rome is experiencing a rat infestation, and authorities are taking action.
Visitors have shared videos of the mice running around near to the historic amphitheater on social media.
Sabrina Alfonsi, the city's director of waste management, claimed that during the weekend, personnel engaged in a "extraordinary intervention" in which they cleared debris and set traps.
According to Ms. Alfonsi, tourist-generated trash piles attract rats.
She noted that recent heatwaves had made the issue worse by causing enormous numbers of plastic bottles to be thrown out near the monument.
The effort would continue the following week with employees cleaning up the green spaces surrounding the Colosseum and the drains where the rats are frequently found, she added, adding that the situation was now under control.
According to authorities, Rome has roughly seven million rats, or about 2.5 for every person living there.
The city has also been having trouble managing large amounts of waste for a number of years, with bins frequently being left to overflow and mountains of trash being dumped directly into streets.