ROME - Rome is considering bidding for the 2020 summer Olympic Games having aborted a plan to try to host the 2016 edition, city mayor Walter Veltroni said on Tuesday.

Italy's second city Milan has previously expressed an interest in staging the 2020 Games.

"With the province of Rome, the region of Lazio and the government we decided that 2016 was not a good year for Rome to host the Olympic Games," Veltroni told reporters at the unveiling of the mascot for the 2009 Rome world swimming championships.

"We think, however, that with the Expo of Milan in 2015 and a possible Olympics in Rome in 2020, it could create a good double-act not only for international visibility but also to increase the country's GDP (gross domestic product)."

The Italian capital has held the Games once before, in 1960, and its soccer teams, AS Roma and Lazio, play in the Stadio Olimpico which also hosts athletics.

The Winter Olympics have twice been held in Italy -- in Turin last year and in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956.

Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Doha in Qatar and Azerbaijan's Baku have applied to host the 2016 Olympic Games with a decision expected in October 2009.

Beijing hosts next year's Olympics with London holding the 2012 edition.