Published Date: July 30, 2010

Tags: Church in Rome, Eternal City, vandalism in Rome

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Vandals are increasingly on the prowl in the Eternal City— and now Italian authorities are fighting back, sending more police, installing cameras and even considering using convicts to protect monuments and artworks.

Earlier this month vandals left anti-pope graffiti on the Scala Santa, or Holy Stairs, a major Catholic site that draws pilgrims from around the world who climb its 28 marble steps on their knees, Associated Press reported.

Compounded by pollution, negligence and a chronic shortage of funding, vandalism adds to the city’s difficulties in preserving its unique artistic heritage, forcing officials to use valuable funds in emergency restoration, the news agency said.

What makes protecting the Italian capital especially challenging is the sheer wealth of its treasures.

“You’d need an army of 20 million people to be there every day, every night,” says Daniel Berger, an art consultant with Italy’s Culture Ministry. “You have to somehow protect them by encouraging people to understand that it’s their heritage, and that it’s the Western European culture.”

Officials have beefed up police patrols of monuments and parks — including sending plainclothes officers mingling with the crowd of visitors — and have installed CCTV.

The agency in charge of keeping Rome clean is working with jail authorities to allow former inmates or convicts released on parole to help clean up vandalized monuments. There is no set date but the initiative might begin in coming months, regional authorities say.

Source: Google/AP

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