Rome elects a woman as mayor in 2,800 years

Yes, it took that long for lawyer Virginia Raggi to let a woman land up the top job in one of the oldest cities of the world.

Picture courtesy: Twitter; It took 2,800 years for Rome to elect its first female Mayor. Virginia Raggi casting her vote here.

The modern city of Rome was founded some 2,800 odd years ago, and it took exactly that long for a woman to be at the helm of affairs. We are talking about none other than Virginia Raggi, who was elected as the first female Mayor of Rome recently. The lawyer, who'll be turning 38 soon also happens to be the youngest Mayor of the capital of Italy.

The Roman city's mayor belongs to the Fiver Star Movement, or M5S and won with a whopping 67.2 per cent votes. The civil lawyer was introduced to the party by her husband Andrea Severini in 2011. The young politician campaigned through the streets of Rome cycling. No wonder one of the major issues she fought the elections on was improving public transport and creating more cycling lanes for checking the city's traffic.

She has been a frontrunner for fighting corruption, and improving environment via waste management and recycling. Of her historic win, the Italian lawyer put it out aptly, "I feel like pointing out that, for the first time, the mayor of Rome is a woman. In a time in which gender equality is still a dream, this is a historic moment."