Traditional New Year's Day plunge into River Tiber

(1 Jan 2020) Four men, including a grandfather of five, dove off Rome's Cavour bridge 15 metres down into the Tiber river on Wednesday, continuing a New Year's Day tradition that goes back decades. The first Near Year's Day Tiber dive was in 1946 and then it had been on and off for a while until 1989, when a group of divers started it again, among them Maurizio Palmulli, age 68, who did his 32nd Tiber dive on Wednesday. After the dive Palmulli said he would go have a New Year's Day lunch with his five children and five grandchildren and then take a nap. Marco Fois, age 56, on his third year as a participant to the Tiber dive, explained that the 15 metres from the bridge down to the water are a little higher compared to the height he is used to, so he would try "to make the least mistakes possible." A team of divers from Rome's firefighter squad stood by in a dinghy watching for any flotsam and jetsam floating down the river.   They plucked the divers out of the murky water moments after each dive. Women dressed in Christmas costumes were watching the event from their rowing boat in the river. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...