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Smart Door: Rome commuters crack up at subway translations

City sees funny side to viral English translations.

Rome city hall clarified on Monday that it is not responsible for a website whose dodgy English translations of Roman metro stations have caused hilarity in the Italian capital in recent days.

The city confirmed that Metropolitanadiroma.it does not come under the umbrella of Roma Capitale or any other municipal websites relating to Rome subways, before admitting that it found one of the translations funny.

The names of many of the 73 stations on the city's underground network were translated automatically into various languages, including English, with decidedly mixed results.

Baffled foreign tourists looking for Porta Furba would find it translated as "Smart Door" while Colli Albani became "Alban Hills", Spagna was listed as "Spain", and Re di Roma was renamed "King of Rome".

The city's central train station Termini appeared as "Terms" while Eur Fermi became "Eur Stop" and Ponte Lungo "Long Bridge", with Pietralata transformed into "Stoned".

In a post on its website on Monday, Metropolitanadiroma.it acknowledged the mistakes and said it has deactivated the automatic translation system.

It also said that it is seeking professional translators in English, French or Spanish, with a knowledge of Rome, to collaborate on updating and improving its website.

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