May 26, 2016

Rome, the capital of Italy and one of the world’s great historic cities, is in need of financial help. This week, cash-strapped city authorities asked if anyone might be interested in, say—adopting the Roman Forum? Much in the same way that people “adopt” highways in-between American cities, officials are asking for donations to maintain, preserve, and renovate Rome’s many famous sites and ancient ruins. In return, adopters can be credited on site as well as in their classical consciences. The Eternal City’s “100 proposals for patrons” campaign lists sites badly in need of restoration, including the Forum, the Ludus Magnus gladiator school, and the Theater of Pompey where Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C. The restoration list also includes many less famous (and many less aged) but equally important aqueducts, baths, fountains, landmarks, parks, and piazzas.

Rome is asking for donations to help preserve such ancient sites as the Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheater. Credit: © Shutterstock

Corporate sponsors have long helped preserve ancient sites in Rome and other Italian cities. The Fendi fashion house recently paid to restore Rome’s Trevi Fountain—appropriately the scene of one of cinema’s great “fashion” moments in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. The exclusive menswear maker Brioni fixed up the Babuino Fountain, one of Rome’s famous “talking statues” (places for anonymous political commentary). The luxury jeweler Bulgari put the spring back in the Spanish Steps, and the founder of Tod’s leather goods and shoes is footing the bill for costly repairs to the Colosseum (which is in constant need). Foreign nations have also chipped in, including Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea, which restored a room of Rome’s Capitoline Museums. This new fund drive, however, marks the first time Rome has publicly gone looking for culturally tuned wealthy individuals. Small donations are accepted, however: a gift of just over $300 will pay for weeding around Trajan’s Column. But to pay the total maintenance and restoration price tag of $550 million, the city is hoping for deep-pocketed friends, Romans, and countrymen. The city is deeply in debt and needs all its funds to maintain roads, schools, sidewalks, subways, and other modern necessities.