Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino has
secured a long-term deal with the Saudi monarchy to fund
restoration projects in the cash-strapped Italian capital, the
mayor's office said Monday.
Marino traveled to Riyadh at the weekend on the invitation
of Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Saudi prince with
a passion for art who reportedly first met the mayor at a Rome
exhibition in October.
Rome's mayor reportedly flew to meet Prince Sultan, a
former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot and astronaut who is the
current Saudi tourism minister, with a dossier of nine
multi-million-euro restoration projects to choose from.
These range from a 1.3-million-euro restoration of the
facades of the 19th-century Palazzo delle Esposizioni exhibition
centre, to a six-million-euro effort to return the Seven Halls,
an ancient Roman cistern that once supplied the Baths of Trajan,
to their former glory.
While terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, the
Saudi monarchy has reportedly agreed to set up a Rome historical
monument restoration fund along with other private donors.
Rome has agreed to loan artwork to Saudi museums in return.
This is not the first time Rome mayors have sought
alternative funding to keep the city's landmark monuments on
their feet.
Last week, luxury jeweller Bulgari signed a deal to pay for
the restoration of Rome's Spanish Steps, while the owner of
Italian shoe label Tod's has ploughed millions of euros into the
Colosseum.
As well, Fendi fashion house has agreed to renovate the
Trevi Fountain, while Japanese patron Yuzo Yagi in 2012 paid to
restore the Pyramid of Cestius.
In October, the Hall of the Philosophers at Rome's
Capitoline Museum reopened after a six-month, 100,000-euro
renovation courtesy of the country of Azerbaijan.
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