Pompeii ruins crumbling away

The ancient Roman city of Pompeii is crumbling away due to poor investment and damage caused by tourists. The attraction's 2.5 million visitors per year are plagued by bogus tour guides, rubbish strewn streets and poor facilities, said the Corriere Della Sera newspaper. It added that the city, which was buried in AD79 by an eruption from the nearby volcano Vesuvius, was losing its artefacts either through bad management or casual looting by visitors. Antonio Irlando, a regional councillor on artistic patrimony, told the newspaper: "'Every year more than 150 square metres of fresco and plaster work are lost at Pompeii because of poor maintenance. "Tourists also take away items that they find on the floor and in the ruins and what they can put into their rucksacks.'' Corriere added that much of Pompeii was also used as an... [read full story]