Rome Parliament Installs Airport-Style Ring Scanner at Chamber Entrance After Deputy Finds Three-Diamond Ring in Bathroom
After a League deputy handed in a three-diamond ring found in a Chamber bathroom, Montecitorio has deployed a walk-through scanner, a lost-property vault and a full-time appraiser to log every jewel that crosses the threshold.
Montecitorio has installed a walk-through ring scanner at every entrance to the Chamber after League deputy Simonetta Matone found a three-diamond ring in a bathroom and handed it to parliamentary assistants, who returned it to its owner.
The scanner, built into a corridor beside the barber shop, sounds a low chime whenever a diamond above a set carat weight passes through. Deputies now queue single file before sittings while a uniformed appraiser examines hands, handbags and coat pockets. «We are not accusing anyone,» said a Chamber security official. «We are simply ensuring that every stone in this building can be traced to a finger.»
A lost-property vault has been carved out of a former committee room, fitted with velvet trays and a full-time jeweller on loan from the treasury. Items logged so far include a sapphire earring, a gold watch and a pearl cufflink, each photographed and catalogued before being returned to its owner. The queue for the vault stretches past the press room on sitting days.
Matone has been appointed honorary keeper of the vault and now begins each session by reading the day's inventory aloud to the chamber. «The ring was returned,» she told colleagues. «The next one will be found before it is lost.» The scanner's chime has become so familiar that deputies pause mid-vote to check their own hands.
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