ISIS Threatens to Come to Rome, Romans Respond With Travel Advice

With travel advice.

#We_Are_Coming_O_Rome ahahah Be careful on the highway-Ring Road: there’s too much traffic, you would remain trapped!

— Alessio Conte (@alessioconte28) February 19, 2015

#We_Are_Coming_O_Rome hey just a tip: don’t come in train, it’s every time late!

— Giuseppe Di Chiara (@Giu_DiChiara) February 19, 2015

#ISIS #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome Go to eat at Gigi Er Puzzone — iCY beats (@iCYbts) February 19, 2015

Tomorrow is strike of public transport. Good luck. #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome — Alessandro Cocco (@AleCocco84) February 19, 2015

#We_Are_Coming_O_Rome – don’t let #Schettino steer your ships. He has a tendency to get too close to islands… pic.twitter.com/m5lm7GLcpq

— Sara (@EthicalRobot) February 20, 2015

#We_Are_Coming_O_Rome are you sure? pic.twitter.com/yNPVEO8Gzc

— Mauro Giulivi (@Giulivello) February 20, 2015

One ISIS supporter Tweeted, “We will use your leaning tower of pizza to throw off homosexual,” which led to him being roundly mocked for his typo:

What other things better to throw off ‘Leaning Tower of PIZZA’ Smoked Salmon Parmesan Mushrooms Prawns Pineapples Damn I’m hungry now — Misschoo (@hellomisschoo) February 22, 2015

Part of the Islamic State’s apocalyptic rhetoric involves a prophecy that the caliphate will defeat “Rome” in a final battle that involves the anti-Christ. What “Rome” actually means is unclear — Italy in its current form did not exist when Islam started as a religion, and Rome was a totally different entity. Some believe that when ISIS says “Rome” they’re really talking about the West, maybe Turkey, or possibly the United States. Regardless of who they are talking about, though, one can only hope that the rest of the world manages to hold onto their sense of humor as well as the Italians have.