Sheep and goats could be used to tackle Rome’s overgrown parks and gardens after years of budgets cuts have left an acute lack of council gardeners.
Cash-strapped authorities are struggling to maintain the city’s 44m square metres of green space, which have been described as “a jungle”.
The city’s mayor Virginia Raggi - who represents the far-right Five Star Movement on the verge of forming a populist government - is said to back the idea.
The concept was raised by a councillor in charge of environmental affairs, Pinuccia Montanari, who said: “The mayor recently urged me to look at the use of sheep or other animals (for managing parks and gardens). It is a simple method that they use in other big cities like Berlin.”
The method has been deployed in the city of Turin, which is also led by the Five Star Movement.
Critics, who say Ms Raggi is responsible for a serious decline in the city’s infrastracture and amenities, have ridiculed the proposal.
“Goodbye to gardeners and lawnmowers!” said Enzo Foschi, a party councillor with the opposition Democratic party. “They’ve already replaced rubbish collectors with seagulls and now this. What will Raggi do during the summer season to get rid of mosquitoes – provide geckoes?”
Coldiretti, Italy’s largest farmers’ union, welcomed the idea, saying there were 50,000 hungry sheep near Rome. “The capital can count on a veritable army of natural lawnmowers,” it said.
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