“We have received one called by the Federation around 4.30pm with which we were asked to move from the depot towards the city center. Only later, when we were already on the road, did they call us a second time and told us to go to Palazzo Chigi ». To speak is one source inside Big Bus Tours, the company that owns the open bus that on Monday accompanied the players of the National team through the streets of the capital. Thus new details emerge on what happened and on who gave the okay “to the unauthorized show”, such as revealed yesterday at Corriere della Sera Matteo Piantedosi, prefect of Rome.
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The open bus of the national team: who gave the okay?
Big Bus Tours, from what transpires, was only notified at the last moment. In fact, the team was already at the Quirinale when the bus left the depot in Tor Cervara, a suburb to the east of the city. IS the authorization to leave and head towards the Azzurri came directly from the Football Federation: not from the Purchasing Office but probably from the Ceremonial. The decision to set up the open bus is following the semifinal against Spain: «After that victory they contacted us, telling us that among the various hypotheses on the table, in the event of a triumph with England, there was also this. So we made available one of our means and we agreed on how to operate ». The Football Federation took care of the set-up: “They did everything in record time, the bus was prepared on Monday morning in a few hours ». And indeed a detail confirms this version: the image chosen for the side is by Chiellini as he raises the cup.
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The National team in Rome for the victory at the European Championships
When the open bus is arrived in front of Palazzo Chigi, the players were already sitting inside the courtyard. Even the crowd didn’t know what would happen next, but were the police surprised to see the bus? Did they know of his arrival? “The police escorted us from via Nazionale, passing through the tunnel and via del Tritone ». To hear the answers from Big Bus Tours it would seem so: “They helped us get through the crowd, evidently they had been warned otherwise they would have blocked us ». The vehicle then maneuvered into piazza Colonna and waited for the ceremony to end: «Once we got there, we were sure that the players would get on, no one seemed to be asking the problem anymore. The decision had surely been made before, when they advised us to leave the warehouse to reach the city center ».
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The party of the National team in Rome and the open bus: the case
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Even the choice of which route to take to return to the hotel Parco dei Principi, where the National team stayed and where there was the private party, arrived in extremis around 7 pm. «We were a little worried about the crowd, but the police knew exactly what we had to do. They told us which roads we would cross and this reassured us, so much so that there were no problems of public order“. While Mancini and the Azzurri listened to the speech by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the police were in fact gathered in a circle to understand how to move and, above all, how to allow the bus to pass between thousands of people already crowded between via del Corso and piazza Venezia. «There was a flood of people, everyone expected to see the European champions. There was no turning back, it would have been too much of a disappointment for everyone ».
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July 15, 2021 | 07:24
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