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Roman Question Of The Day: What Does This Street Sign Warn Could Happen To You?

IMG_0946We are in our second day in Rome and having a ball. After a morning of church and crypt visits, we are about to join an arranged tour of the Vatican. However, one unnerving sign outside of the hotel stood out.

It appears that you can just be sucked into the Roman streets. That explains the catacombs we visited this morning full of stacked human bones. Alternatively, as the home of the Vatican, it could be a warning about your eternal soul and the pull of the demonio to the repose of the damned. I am not sure whether to grab a rope line or a prayer book before crossing.

54 thoughts on “Roman Question Of The Day: What Does This Street Sign Warn Could Happen To You?”

  2. Paul C.
    Yep, what’s in the dude’s hands… I thought that too.
    Then upon zooming it appears to be scratched paint off the sign.

    No fishing coins? Like this…

    1. Max-1 – JT is just going to have to break the man code and ask. 🙂

  3. It’s either “Danger! Open sewer drain ahead!” or “We Italians are drowning in a sea of debt.” Come to think of it, is there a difference between these messages?

    1. Max-1 – I check the Italian roadsigns and first, damn they have a lot. However, the best I could do is that sign is a prohibition. Since the picture is small it looks like a small boy with something in his hand. Hence my riffing on yours to get to ‘no fishing out coins from the fountain.”

  8. I see that there are no paisanos here! The guy in the sign was “paid a visit” from the local “family.” Apparently, parked his fiat in the “wrong” parking space.
    Ciao!

  9. True, Paul, but stupidly driving into a flooded wash often provides its own natural penalties. The stupid motorist AND the taxpayers have to pay then.

    1. Tyger Gilbert – I was here long before the Stupid Motorist Law and we were all paying all the time. 😉

    1. Max-1 – I think you are on to it. No fishing coins from the fountain!

  11. Pretty obvious…, that is a one way only swim sign. You can not swim up the street in that direction. If you do, don’t expect help getting out.

  13. You folks in the southeast are familiar w/ flash floods. They happen in the Midwest, but much less frequently. In 1977 the very toney Country Club Plaza in KC experienced a flash flood and we along w/ 4 friends were swept up in it. We were coming home from a Royals game. A friend was driving a big, older Buick. There were warnings but @ 6pm it was sunny, so we went to the game. It got rained out in ~4th inning. The ride home was OK until we got the Plaza. My friend was just following traffic when all of a sudden us and several cars in front of us hit a wall of water. We hurriedly got out just before the car was swept away. He found refuge in a bar up an incline. The water started reaching the bar when cops arrived in a boat and took us to a nearby precinct. When I see pooled water I stop! Lesson learned.

    1. Nick – not sure if you meant flash floods in the southeast or the Southwest where we are very familiar with flash floods.

  14. That sign outside the Vatican warns against pedophile priests inside the Vatican. When in Rome, do as the Romans. Not the Romas, those are Gypsies. Never the Twain shall meet.

  16. In Arizona, where we have flash floods and lots of stupid drivers, that sign would likely mean “Do Not Enter When Flooded!” It’s not uncommon to see people sitting on the top of their car in the middle of a flooded wash out in the desert, waiting for rescue during the rainy season. Despite obvious warning signs written in plain American. It happens so often that the sheriffs charge people to rescue them now.

    1. Tyger Gilbert – the aptly named “Stupid Motorist Law” only kicks in if the road has been blocked off and the driver ignores the signs.

  19. Watch Out For The Kid On The Bike! He will steal your camera bag. He has an ear bitten off by some guide dog when half blind guy got robbed in Catania last year.

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