Showing posts with label Festival of the republic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Festival of the republic. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

More Kinds of Police!


While I was at the parade for the Festival of the Republic (see previous blog for information on what that is) I noticed an entirely new branch of police. The name on the cars of these police officers was Guardia di Finanza. After doing some research on sorrentotourism.com, I found at that the finance police "specializes in the battle against tax fraud, financial crimes and drug trafficking." The finance police don't fall under armed forces like the Carabinieri. They are a part of the police force and help with the State Police with enforcing border control. Unlike some of the other police officers that wear navy blue or white uniforms, these officers where light gray uniforms. I could only snap a picture of one of their cars though!

Festival of the Republic


Today is the anniversary of the day that Italy decided to abolish the monarchy and become a republic. Nearly everything in the city was closed today because of the holiday (we still had class though.) There was so much activity going on around Rome! There was a parade on Via del Imperiali which runs from the Colosseum up past the Capital. I walked around on my lunch break and actually got to see tons of people and police officers and firefighters dressed in full uniform. Unfortunately, I miss the parade! I still got a cool picture of an Italian fire truck. OK.. I got a picture of what I THINK is an Italian firetruck because it's red. It might not be. I need to do more research before I can say what it is for sure!