The New York Times reports that the collapse of an ancient building in Pompeii has brought political recriminations against the Berlusconi Government. See
See http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/11/07/world/europe/international-us-italy-pompeii.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=pompeii&st=cse
The fact is though that Italy's cultural establishment has been grossly underfunded for years and that cultural protection efforts have been hampered by an unresponsive bureaucracy, despite recent efforts at reform.
Hopefully, this event will help encourage more funding to shore up Pompeii and a redoubling of efforts to make the Italian cultural establishment more responsive to its primary mission of protecting Italy's unsurpassed cultural patrimony.
Guardian UK: Pompeii building collapse prompts calls for privatisation of city: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/07/pompeii-building-collapse-italian-government
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