The British Foreign Office has warned of the danger of pickpockets in Rome, causing the city’s mayor to accuse the Foreign Office of spreading lies.
Tourists are often "hassled and jostled to distract them," by thieves before accomplices move in to steal belongings, warned the Foreign Office.
It singled out the city’s central station and when taking the number 64 bus to the Vatican, where crooks steal while people take in the views.
Mayor Ignazio Marino took umbrage, calling the report "misleading and false."
He added: "There are proven, international statistics which show that London is much more dangerous than Rome in terms of criminality."
But it was the mayor himself who last month announced that barriers would be put up at Rome's Termini station on platforms to stop thieves boarding trains.
Rome's police chief Giuseppe Pecoraro said the number of police patrols would be increased at the station. Last week, 32 pickpockets were arrested by police at tourist sites around the city, including 21 Romanians. Roma gangs are also known to train children to pickpocket.
The Foreign Office has also warned that visitors might be offered spiked drinks in Italy or robbed in their sleep on night trains.
The Italian government has issued its own advisory for Italians visiting the UK which, the mayor said, "alerts them to the dangers of numerous London neighbourhoods." It also says that pickpocketing is on the rise on London public transport.
