Over ‘100 tourists get mugged every day’ in one of Europe’s most famous cities

As pilgrims prepare to flock to Rome for the Vatican Jubilee, another group has also flocked to the eternal city: pickpockets.

Muggings and pickpocketing incidents have doubled in the last year as pickpocketing gangs have begun to systematically target Rome’s tourists.

The wave of theft has led the city’s restaurateurs and bar owners to speak out as pickpockets prey on their clients.

“Now we are receiving between 80 and 100 reports a day of muggings, thefts and pickpocketing” Claudio Pica, head of Fiepet Confesercenti, which represents 3,500 restaurants, cafes and pizzerias, told the Telegraph.

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The Trevi Fountain, the famous baroque sculpted fountain in Rome’s centre has become the worst area for pickpocketing in Europe, according to Quotezone’s European Pickpocketing Index, which measures digital mentions of pickpocketing.

Around 20 million tourists visit Rome each year, and that number will increase to 35 million in 2025, due to it being the Vatican Jubilee, a special year of worship in the Catholic church, which attracts pilgrims to Rome.

Pickpocketing has already become so rife that the Roman subway had to shut this August after a pickpocket fled down a tunnel.

Pickpockets target the crowded space of the tube, as can be seen in numerous social media videos on X, and Italy’s interior minister Matteo Piantedosi has recently ordered random police checks on the Metro A line used by tourists to reach St Peter’s and the Vatican.

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Police say that they have conducted more than 175,000 random checks since the beginning of 2024, arresting 676 people.

The central Barberini station even shut for 40 minutes in July after a brawl involving 40 people broke out after reports of pickpocketing.

In response, the Ministry of the Interior has established a special police task force, Polmetro, specifically orientated towards catching pickpockets on the metro in Rome, Milan and Naples.

Restauranteurs have also started to adapt to the phenomenon, such as Mauro Cicala, who told Il Messaggero that he had seen five attempted thefts of his customers in a single day.

“We sound the alarm as soon as we recognise one of them,” he said.

“We have learned how to identify them because they wear hats, sweatshirts and backpacks in order to blend in with the tourists.”