Sunday,
July 30, 2006
The
ANNOTICO Report
As usual
it's the Brits complaining again.
Damn, the
Romans civilized the primitive Brits, and then the Italian Renaissance pulled
them out of the Middle Ages.
The
Brits have No ancient architectural gems, or Few modern ones of their own, so they have to come to
Then the
Brits complain that
Instead,
the Brits should be volunteering to help fund the costs to maintain Western Civilization's
foundations!!
Do the
Brits Not understand that you can hardly put a spade in the ground in the
entire peninsula without striking ancient artifacts or architecture. Many
archeologists are not anxious to do further excavations, feeling
that Italy has more than enough ruins to admire, and preserve, and
they don't have to expose any more to the ravages of the elements.
Limited funds and excessive
rain threaten the Italian capital's ancient monuments
John Hooper in
Monday July 31, 2006
Take a cab
into
Across the Circus Maximus, the remains of the palace of the ruthless Roman
emperor Septimius Severus rear up like a
"It was closed off in
the 1960s," said Giovanna Tedone, shutting the
gate behind her. Halfway along the path, which runs beneath the palace ruins,
stands a warden's hut smothered with graffiti. Nearby,
a broken floodlight lies by a rusting gate.
The reason no one below the
age of about 60 has seen at close hand
"Look up there,"
said Ms Tedone, an architect with the state's
archaeological service in
Everyone has heard of
sinking
Now, though, the issue has
been given new urgency by climate change. One night last November, a wall on
the Palatine Hill collapsed. It had been built in the 16th or 17th centuries in
the landscaped gardens overlooking the Forum created by the aristocratic
Farnese family, and gave way after days of torrential rain of a kind that has
become increasingly common in
Angelo Bottini,
The wall's collapse raised
an alarming question: if the rain could bring down an apparently solid,
400-year-old structure, what might it do to 2000-year-old buildings suspected
to be unstable?
"If you think that an
ordinary house, with a roof, needs to be kept up, you can imagine what is
needed to maintain a monument that has no roof and maybe only partial
walls," said Prof Bottini.
His next move was to hire a
renowned structural engineer, Giorgio Croci, to
survey the
"We don't know if
those that appear to be solid really are," Prof Bottini
said. The
What is more, instead of
demolishing buildings that they no longer wanted, the ancient Romans had the
vexing habit of using them as the basis for others. So many stuctures
that look solid could rest on shaky foundations.
As the authorities wait for
the engineer's report, emergency repairs are being carried out on two areas
where the risks are all too visible. One is Tiberius's palace, which cascades
down the north side of the
Part of this vast complex
was opened to the public in 2000. In December, after more heavy rain, it was
abruptly closed.
Trajan, the first non-Italian
emperor, who came to power 30 years after Nero's death, filled in the Domus Aurea with earth to build
baths on top. These too were later filled in, so that both structures today lie
underneath a park.
"When it rains, the
water from above goes straight down," said Prof Bottini.
"We have a simple project. It involves removing all the earth,
waterproofing the monuments underneath and then putting back the earth."
A small, raised walkway is
to be built so that a tiny part of the Domus Aurea can be reopened. The 4m (#2.7m) scheme is due to be
finished in three years. A further 8.5m has been set aside for the
But, depending on Prof Croci's findings, much more cash may be needed, and that
could switch attention to perhaps the oddest aspect of
Substantial funds are
potentially available for its conservation. But the government has decided not
to tap into them. Entrance to the Forum and the Palatine Hill is free. It is
arguably the world's greatest tourist bargain.
"We've thought about
it so many times. It's lovely. It's right,"
sighed Ms Tedone, before adding a pregnant "But
..."
No one knows how many
visitors there are. Ms Tedone estimates 10-15,000 a
day. If that is right and they each paid only a euro,
it would raise more than 45m a year. That is three times the budget available
for preserving the most important site handed down from the classical world.
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