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08-30-2016, 04:52 AM
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Italy?s vulnerable beauty lacks funds
ROME: The basilica of Saint Benedict in the medieval town of **rcia swayed but held up last week when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocked mountai**us central Italy.
Just 24 km away in Amatrice, which used to bill itself as the town of 100 churches, the historic centre was flattened and **t a single holy place escaped undamaged. The fact that a town in the main quake zone was largely unscathed while others have been crushed might have a lot to do with the vagaries of seismic shocks, which can bring disproportionate damage depending on land formation. But it might also be because picture-postcard **rcia has consistently invested in anti-seismic protection for its ancient buildings, while its less famous neighbours have **t. **rcia represents the exception, **t the rule in Italy, where the majority of buildings were constructed more than a century ago, well before anti-seismic **rms were introduced. The question is whether the heavily indebted country has the will and the money to safeguard all its homes and cultural treasures. Italy is home to more Unesco world heritage sites than any other nation, with architectural and artistic masterpieces ranging from Greek and Roman remains to the frescoes of the late Mediaeval painter Giotto and residences or "palazzi" of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. But it is also an active seismic zone, experiencing 36 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5 and above since 1900. Almost every one has brought death and destruction, with nearly 300 people dying in the latest disaster. Such tragedies inevitably trigger rounds of recriminations about why successive governments haven’t done more to defend Italians’ lives and heritage. "We should get to the churches, monuments and palazzi before the quakes do, but we always end up chasing them," says Paolo Clemente from Italy’s multidisciplinary research centre ENEA. "If everything is left as it is, our cultural heritage is destined to die...". أكثر... 
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