Refuge Crisis: Any impact on Rome right now?

Nothing more than usual. We see a lot of Africans panhandling, but that's been going on for a long time. The Syrian crisis has not had a major impact.

Thank you.

Syrian refugees impacting Rome, first i have ever heard of it, where do your friends get their information!?!? Suggest you take all their information with a grain of salt.

The only impact I saw several weeks ago is that you no longer can cross the Vatican area by car, you have to tour the whole wall. Apart from that nothing much.

None of us should listen to friends who try to put a damper on our travel plans. Such friends almost always are full of hot air, afraid to travel themselves, or ignorant and misinformed.

Thank you for input and yes grain of salt taken with friends advice.

No impact. You will probably see zero refugees in Rome.
The only change is increased security personnel (police and soldiers with assault rifles) everywhere and airport style security to enter certain sights (like Colosseum). But that is due to the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, not to the refugees.

pm,

I was in Italy last fall when there were a lot of refugees migrating towards Germany, and didn't notice any impact at all. As Laurel mentioned, there are always Africans panhandling and selling cheap trinkets (I've seen that in Greece and other countries as well), but that doesn't usually impact tourists.

Of more immediate concern is avoiding pickpockets, some of which are very skilled. I'd also suggest taking your friends advice with a grain of salt. I'd be interested to know whether the people who have "expressed concern" have travelled in Italy or anywhere else in Europe recently?

Great feedback. Starting to suspect our friends may have watched too much CNN.