Rome's Ancient Sites Are At Eternal Peril

[Viggen]

Weeds with stone-splitting roots. Relentless traffic belching pollution. Tourists trampling across the once palatial residences of emperors. Earthquakes and terrorism waiting to happen. From the imposing stone bulk of the Colosseum to the romantic ruins of imperial luxury atop the Palatine Hill, the Eternal City's monuments, once pillaged by foreign conquerors, today face an array of perils old and new. Rome's fragile ruins have the urgent attention of teams of monument "doctors," armed with such high-tech instruments as micro-cameras probing for weak spots.

 

via Forbes

[phil25]

I'm glad to see something is being done about the situation.

 

The problem is that Italy just has TOO MUCH history and too many ruins to look after easily. Don't forget that they have a medieval, Renaissance and ecclesiastical heritage to sustain as well.

 

Pompeii and Herculaneum worried me when i was last there 10 years ago, and the recent UK Channel 5 programme reassured me somewhatthat action has been taken. But there is just so much.

 

Even presenting the Forum and the Palatine in an acceptable way is difficult. I wish the New Palace of the Julio-Claudian period (proably Claudius) could be unearthed, but it is below the farnese gardens which have to be preserved because they are of Renaissance and horticultural importance.

 

Much of the palace of Domitian and the Severan extensions were out of bounds when I was last there - I think that may have improved now.

 

But it is not just the sites - the museums too are at risk. I have yet to see the Museum within the baths of Constantine (near Termini station) because it was always "Chiuso per restauro" whenever I was in Rome. I think the position may be different now.

 

And I vividly recall going to see the Museum of roman Civilisation at EUR (a Mussolini inspired suburb of Rome) in the mid-80s and being told by a guard at the door - "It's closed". We thought it was for lunch. But when pressed,it as indefinitely, because the roof leaked!!

 

this is the Museum with all the casts of Trajan's column and the huge model of Rome in c310AD that other posters may have seen pictures of. Again I believe the Museum is now open, but my experience illustrates the problem. Too many places too little money.

 

Phil