Lights turned off at Rome town hall as energy cost rises

Mayors plunged into darkness the historic city halls of Rome and Florence, as well as more modest landmarks in between, in a coordinated action Thursday evening to draw attention to the soaring price of energy.

The Italian mayors' association said the government's response so far has been insufficient to help cities confront a collective 550 million euros in addition energy costs to the annual expenditure of some 1.8 billion euros- an increase of nearly 30% - making cities choose between balancing the budget or cutting public services.

Matteo Caroli, Associate Dean, Internationalization at Luiss University in Rome said "So, for the public administration the increase of the cost of energy, of electricity, means a budget problem and so the alternative is either to reduce other expenses or reducing the consumption of electricity.”

Premier Mario Draghi on Wednesday underlined the government's determination to come up with broad measures in the coming days to address higher energy bills, pledging to offer relief to "families and businesses that face difficulties due to the increase in electric energy."