A view of a snow whitened St. Peter’s Basilica, in Rome Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. A rare snowfall blanketed Rome forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city’s slushy hills. Other parts of the country experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years. Authorities stopped visitors from entering the Colosseum, the adjacent Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome’s ancient emperors.
