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Caring for centuries worth of art and architecture has caused
headaches for successive Italian governments as economic
stagnation squeezed funding for the arts and restoration
projects were dogged by bureaucracy and bad management.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the 33 projects
constituted "the biggest operation on our cultural heritage in
the history of the republic", referring to the period since a
1946 referendum sent Italy's royal family into exile.
One of the biggest windfalls is due to go to an 18th century
prison on the tiny Tyrrhenian Sea island of Santo Stefano, which
was closed in the 1960s and has been slowly decaying ever since.
The ministry said in a statement the prison, whose cells were
built in a horseshoe shape around a watchtower to make prisoners
feel they were always being watched, would receive 70 million
euros for restoration and development.
Pompeii, where work to secure a city preserved under volcanic
ash for more than 1600 years was long delayed by corruption and
mismanagement, will get 40 million euros.
A further 40 million euros will go to works on the Uffizi
museums in Florence, home to masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli
and Caravaggio. The historic center of L'Aquila, destroyed by an
earthquake in 2009, will get 30 million euros.
The 29 other projects include extending the Pinacoteca di Brera
gallery in Milan, completing restoration at the Palace of
Caserta, near Naples, and finishing an auditorium in Florence.
(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
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