'Carp' Diem : The Eternal City suffers an acute crisis of identity.(Rome, Italy)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)

From the Ponte Sisto in Rome, the view of St. Peter's is postcard perfect. The ancient bridge across the Tiber was built from remnants of various pillages--a chunk of marble from the Colosseum, a cornerstone from an ancient temple. Savor the moment but avert your eyes from the river. This summer it was a sewer of dead fish, killed by no one knows quite what. The stench still lingers and the embankments shimmer with an oily residue, festooned with dead carp and eels.

If a river is a city's symbolic lifeline, Rome is in trouble. It may be the Eternal City, but London or Paris it's not. While other European capitals grow ever more chic and modern, Rome is in a rut. If it's scenic vistas and good food you seek, great. But for cultural liveliness, business vibrancy and the conveniences of modern living? Forget it. Torpidity and decay seem to be Rome's watchwords. Yes, it's still the seat of government, proud citadel of a prosperous G7 nation and a leader of the European Union. But what to make of e-coop.it, one of the few online supermarkets to serve the capital? It promises efficient 24-hour service anywhere else in Italy. But in Rome, where traffic, strikes and chaos rule, deliveries can take up to 48 and even 72 hours. If you want fresh fish, you'd do just as well to get it from the river.

Psychobabblists have a phrase for such troubles. Trying to portray itself as a modern capital of Europe, yet unable to follow through, Rome is suffering an acute identity crisis. Once the seat of a great empire, it has through history been sacked, burned and given up for lost. It has been led astray by leaders from Nero to Mussolini. Rome has always bounced back from adversity with a catlike resilience. But can it do so again?

These days nary a major bank or corporation in Italy makes Rome its headquarters. Milan, with inviting amenities and an adopted northern European ethic of efficiency and punctuality, is the country's business center. For culture, it's Florence or Venice. While those cities have invested considerable time and treasure in promoting their attractions, Rome has not. Pop stars and performers of every stripe, finding Rome to be a sure money-loser, have written the city off their European tours. Rome remains a place of pilgrimage, sacred and secular. But tourism, a mainstay of the city's economy, has slumped, down from 4.1 million in 2000 to an estimated 3.8 million in 2002. In November, American Airlines and Northwest will suspend service to the city for lack of demand. Delta and Continental have already slashed their ...