Ostia

Teenage boys, mostly, from Roma Nord, Ostia, Prenestina, Monterotondo and other suburbs, trekking to Rome’s city center, boards in hand, to heelflip and airwalk and boardslide among the obstacles of a new skatepark, which opened to the public just before Christmas.

Two years ago, vandals targeted Maurizio Manzetti, a cook in the seaside Roman neighborhood of Ostia, whose restaurant décor includes Italian flags and photographs of Ms. Meloni.

But, on the seafront in Ostia, Erica complained her shopping bills were going through the roof.

The sponge coats unwanted detritus and waste with mucus and sends the coated particles out through small pores in its body called ostia.

Other scientists had observed sponges sneezing by pushing water through their ostia before, but no one had confirmed the behavior was a mode of self-cleaning until now.