Bulgari's Spanish Steps donation a €1.5m 'gift' to the people of Rome
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Version 0 of 1. Luxury jeweller Bulgari has answered the government's plea for help to fund renovation of Rome's famous Spanish Steps (above). Bulgari, bought in 2011 by French luxury giant LVMH, will put €1.5m towards the two-year refurbishment, which will begin in 2015, Rome's mayor Ignazio Marino said. Prime minister Matteo Renzi called this month for private investors to help restore and maintain heritage monuments, after a series of wall collapses at Pompeii. "Italy is a country of culture and so I challenge businessmen. What are you waiting for? If the private sector can keep the wall standing upright, why not allow it to?" he said. The culture sector in Italy has suffered budget cuts and funds are expected to be cut further to €1.4bn for 2014, from €1.5bn a year earlier. Many Baroque or Renaissance churches and Roman archaeological sites are closed to the public for lack of maintenance. The government has already called on the private sector to help restore other Unesco monuments: in Rome shoemaker Tod's is financing works at the Colosseum, while fashion house Fendi is expected to refurbish the Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps refurbishment will be "the special gift from Bulgari to its city" to mark the jeweller's 130th anniversary, the company's chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin told a press conference in Rome. The 18th century Baroque-style stairway has 136 steps. |