The New York Times reports that a number of usually-closed-to-the-public monuments in Rome will be open for the next little while. An excerpt:
“The shortage of guards is a huge problem that really must be resolved,” said Maria Antonietta Tomei, director of the Palatine and Roman Forum, as she strode purposefully around the site. On a good day, she said, only about a quarter of the approximately 80 security guards assigned to the area are on the job (holidays, illness and days off account for the absences), “and that’s just not enough.” But there’s no money to hire any more.
“Even when we restore buildings, we usually only manage to keep them open for a few days, even if the restorations have been long and complex and costly,” she said. “Then we only open them up to scholars.”
The chance to see previously closed sites is being made possible with state money that is usually set aside for staff bonuses and special projects, Ms. Tomei said. Normally cantankerous unions have also signed on.
Among the attractions that await visitors is the House of Livia, once the home of the wife of the emperor Augustus. The two-story structure has been closed for more than two decades, but until October it will be open every Tuesday.
By later imperial standards, the house, with its panels of architectonic motifs and flowery festoons, might even be described as modest. “Augustus didn’t love waste,” Ms. Tomei said. “He lived in the same rooms for 40 years.”
[…]
The Colosseum, Palatine and Roman Forum, which can be visited with one ticket, are Italy’s biggest tourist draw, and in 2008 nearly five million visitors brought in more than $50 million. But the financial crisis has had an effect on tourism. Hotel occupancy was down about 8 percent in March from the year before, according to the most recent statistics available from Rome’s municipal tourist office. (It’s too soon to know whether the Colosseum numbers have changed.)
New monuments to visit might be one way to lure tourists. For example, buried under the ruins of the Domus Flavia, built by Nero and Domitian, are the remains of the so-called House of Gryphons, one of the most important residences of Republican Rome. Excavated in 1912, it is virtually unknown outside academic circles. It too is now open on Tuesdays.
Behind its massive original bronze doors, the misnamed Temple of Romulus in the Roman Forum (it was probably the Temple of Jupiter Stator) shows evidence of the gradual merging of pagan religions with the Christian usurper. Like the so-called Oratory of the 40 Martyrs, decorated with eighth-century frescoes of soldiers who perished in frozen waters in Armenia, the temple is now open on Fridays.
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