Eternal City prepares for millions of pilgrims in 2025.

Rome has unveiled plans to pedestrianise Piazza Pia, near the Vatican, as part of a major €70 million project ahead of the Jubilee Year in 2025.

A busy thoroughfare for tourists and pilgrims, Piazza Pia is located between Castel S. Angelo and Via della Conciliazione which leads to St Peter's Square.

Works will start on Tuesday 22 August and once complete, by the end of next year, traffic will be channelled underground to link with the existing Lungotevere in Sassia underpass.

#Giubileo2025, avvio del cantiere di #PiazzaPia: dal 22 agosto partono i lavori nell'area tra Castel Sant'Angelo e via della Conciliazione. Nuove modifiche alla #viabilità dal 21 notte. Da domani deviazioni per bus 23, 40, 62, 280, 982 https://t.co/vOVGrcbb70 #RomaSiTrasforma pic.twitter.com/0smcXXZnlP

— Roma (@Roma) August 21, 2023

Alternative traffic routes will be in place in the area for the duration of the construction works which are scheduled to finish on 8 December 2024.

Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri hailed the project as being of "historical, urban and architectural importance, as well very ambitious from an engineering point of view", adding that it would lead to a "profound transformation" of the area.

However the planned new look for Piazza Pia has faced criticism on social media over its apparent scarcity of trees, with some commentators likening it to Piazza S. Silvestro which was restyled in 2012.

The project is one of several major schemes underway in Rome ahead of Jubilee 2025, including the upgrading of Ponte di Ferro and the restyling of Piazza della Repubblica.

For details of the Piazza Pia project and the changes for traffic and bus routes see city website.