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By Joshua McElwee
ROME (Reuters) - Rome has completed the most ambitious of thousands of construction works that have disrupted daily life in the Eternal City in preparation for the millions of tourists expected during the 2025 Catholic Holy Year that starts this week
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri opened a major new road junction near the Vatican on Monday, marking completion of an 85 million euro ($88.4 million) centrepiece project among 3,200 public construction works ahead of the Holy Year, otherwise known as the Catholic Jubilee.
The new underpass near the medieval Castel Sant'Angelo redirects traffic underground and creates a pedestrian zone from the Tiber River toward St. Peter's Basilica, the centre of Catholicism and one of the world's most visited tourist sites.
The frenzy of work, however, has infuriated residents and left some visitors feeling short-changed in recent months because many tourist attractions have been behind scaffolding.
The Vatican expects 32 million tourists to descend on the Italian capital for the Holy Year, which will be opened by Pope Francis during Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's on Tuesday and will run until Jan. 6, 2026.
The first Holy Year was proclaimed in 1300 as an opportunity for pilgrims coming to Rome to obtain special indulgences, or remission of their sins. The event now normally occurs every 25 years and is considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon.
Gualtieri said construction workers, who started the underpass in August 2023, worked 24 hours a day for 450 days to win a "race against time" to complete it on schedule.
"The Jubilee will now give Rome a new beautiful public square," he told reporters.
Under the new layout, much of the Via della Conciliazione, the central boulevard leading toward the Vatican, will become a traffic-free "pilgrims' path" expected to be walked by up to 100,000 tourists per day.
Beyond the new road construction, Rome has pooled 3.7 billion euros of state and European funds to overhaul tourist sites, parks and even rubbish bins.
The Trevi Fountain has also been restored and was reopened on Sunday.
($1 = 0.9620 euros)
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Gavin Jones and David Goodman)
