Romans watch the Olympics, 1960
Published: August 4, 2012
Gene Bane ©Stars and Stripes
Rome, August, 1960: Years before the arrival of sports bars, wide-screen TVs and live streaming on the Internet, Romans interested in the Olympic Games that were being held in their city took advantage of any opportunity to follow the action. Televisions were still relatively scarce; a 1963 UNESCO report listed Italy as having 43 sets per 1,000 people in 1960, a rate lower than that of Czechoslovakia (58) and East Germany (60), and well below that of the U.S. (310).
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