Italian Prime Minister Calls on Private Sector to Fund Pompeii Restoration

Following collapses and accusations of corruption at the archaeological site of Pompeii, and faced with a drastically truncated cultural budget, the new prime minister of Italy Matteo Renzi is calling on the private sector to help fund the ongoing restoration of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

“The ideological refusal to permit the private sector to intervene, as if only the public sector could guarantee the guardianship of heritage, must end,” Renzi said. “If the private sector can keep the wall standing upright, why not allow it to?”