The year-long celebration will bring 35m visitors – but the necessary upgrades, costing $5bn, have stretched budgets and patience. CGTN's Giles Gibson reports from Rome.
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00:00This is the vision that Rome's mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, set out for the 2025 Jubilee, pledging
00:10to transform the city.
00:16There is a vision, a spiritual significance that makes us doubly responsible for making
00:21the most of the tens of millions of pilgrims, and for making our city fairer, more modern,
00:26more welcoming, more accessible, more inclusive, more sustainable.
00:35But just days before the start of the Jubilee, this was the reality.
00:40Construction work still ongoing, just steps away from St. Peter's Square and the Vatican.
00:46In many ways, the city has been transformed over the last couple of years.
00:50Roads and piazzas dug up, public transport constantly disrupted, locals growing tired
00:56of the Eternal City becoming an eternal building site.
01:00More than $5 billion from the national government and the EU has been poured into upgrading
01:04transport links and other public spaces.
01:08And after the last-minute scramble, Mayor Gualtieri inaugurated newly refurbished squares
01:13and other sites just as the Jubilee got underway.
01:17For the tourism sector, the Jubilee represents a huge opportunity, but many potential visitors
01:22are concerned about overcrowding, especially here in the historic center.
01:27At $35 million, the expected number of pilgrims matches the total number of tourists who came
01:32to Rome last year.
01:34I want to share with you three special places in Rome that I think any visitor should add
01:39to their list.
01:40Elissa Bernard, who makes video guides for holidays in Rome, says she's advising people
01:45to go ahead and book their tickets anyway.
01:48So we're seeing this completion of so many sites around Rome.
01:52Rome is sparkling.
01:53Rome is beautiful.
01:54It's always beautiful.
01:55But now, even more than ever.
01:56I mean, the fountains are absolutely at their cleanest, most beautiful.
02:00And I think that anybody coming to Rome in 2025 is going to have a unique opportunity
02:05to see Rome at its absolute most beautiful than I can remember in the entire time I've
02:10lived here.
02:11The official theme of the 2025 Jubilee is Pilgrims of Hope.
02:16What local officials hope is that months of disruption mean the city can now show its
02:20best side to millions of visitors from around the world.
02:24Giles Gibson for CGTN, Rome.