Rome repaints parking bays around cars then fines drivers
Rome parking crews repainted free white bays blue around cars left overnight, then ticketed drivers who never moved — including Stefano Angeloni, hit with a €29.40 fine. The Daily Mirror showed his viral clip proving white paint still sat under his tyres.
The saga has become a textbook entry in Bizarre News & Florida Man territory: a legal free spot turned paid while the vehicle sat still.
Key Takeaways
- White lines mean free parking in Rome; blue lines mean you must pay.
- Workers painted white bays blue around parked cars overnight.
- Stefano Angeloni found a €29.40 (£24.91) fine on his windscreen.
- His sarcastic video passed one million views and sparked global outrage.
- It is unknown whether he contested the City Council of Rome ticket.
What exactly happened to the Rome driver?
Italian motorist Stefano Angeloni said he legally left his car in a white-lined space on a Rome street. When he returned, fresh blue paint framed the tyres and a parking fine was stuck to the windscreen.
In the capital, coloured kerbside markings set the rules. White means you can park without buying a ticket. Blue means paid parking is required.
According to the Daily Mirror, City Council of Rome workers changed the line colour around vehicles that had not been moved. The fine on Angeloni’s car came to €29.40 (£24.91).
Why did the parking fine video go viral?
Angeloni filmed the scene and posted a short clip that quickly racked up more than a million views. Under the wheels, the old white paint was still visible — proof the car had not left the bay while crews worked around it.
“Look at this fantastic parking spot I found,” he said on camera. “I leave my car in a white-lined space; then, one night, they come by and paint over the white lines with blue ones. Obviously, they couldn’t paint underneath my car — or anyone else’s — so the white lines I parked in are now blue.”
He added: “The result? A nice fat fine. Fantastic, right? We’re in a fantastic city.” News.com.au reported the clip featured his Honda CR-V and drew furious comments, including drivers calling city bosses “bastards.”
How did drivers react to Rome’s blue-line switch?
Online replies mixed dark humour with anger. One viewer joked about buying white paint and a brush for “lifetime free parking membership.” Another said the wheel was still on white, so no payment was due. A third simply called the situation “crap.”
A follow-up note shared with the Daily Mirror said Angeloni’s daughter claimed her dad posted the video by mistake and did not realise how far it had spread. Whether he challenged the fine remains unclear.
For tourists and locals alike, the episode is a blunt reminder that Rome’s colour-coded bays can change under your car — and that a “fantastic” ticket may arrive before any warning does.