Springsteen comes to Rome amid controversy over Ferrara concert.
Final preparations are underway in Rome ahead of a sold-out concert by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at the Circus Maximus on Sunday.
Springsteen faced widespread criticism for going ahead with a concert in the northern city of Ferrara on Thursday, days after the surrounding Emilia-Romagna region was devastated by floods that have led to at least 13 deaths.
The American rock star, 72, was defended by the Ferrara mayor Alan Fabbri who wrote on Facebook: “I am sorry if anyone may have thought that Ferrara was insensitive to the tragedy in Romagna just because it did not cancel the concert by The Boss”.
Fabbri said that cancelling the concert would have “solved nothing” and caused economic hardship for the area as well as the workers and companies involved in hosting the major event, and the “thousands of tourists from all over the world” who travelled to Ferrara.
