Rome mayor denies Rolling Stones undercharged for concert

Northern League says low fee 'slap in the face' by Rome

(ANSA) Rome, June 23 - Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino came under fire Monday for renting the Circus Maximus to the Rolling Stones for just 8000 euros a short time after asking the central government to bail out the Eternal City administration.

Northern League MP Marco Rondini said his opposition party will table a parliamentary question on whether the symbolic price charged for using the ancient Roman charioteers' racecourse for the British group's concert on Sunday constitutes damages to the Italian treasury. "This free gift by the mayor of Rome is a slap in the face for citizens of other cities obliged to pay for the deep hole in Rome's finances caused by incomprehensible choices like this," Rondini claimed.

Marino defended the price saying that the costs of the concert were paid for entirely by the Rolling Stones and that the concert brought 50,000 people to Rome from outside the city who spent money in restaurants, hotels and museums. The Rolling Stones left Rome's Ciampino Airport Monday for Oslo aboard a Boeing 737.