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Sunset reddens the sky around Vesuvius beyond the poignant cast of a Pompeiian's body. Photograph: Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis Italy yesterday declared a state of emergency at the ruins of Pompeii, proclaiming the action "a great act of love for the culture of the country". A special commissioner will be appointed with a mandate to resolve what the heritage minister, Sandro Bondi, said was an intolerable situation at one of the world's top tourist sites. The daily Corriere della Sera this week deplored the squalid conditions at Pompeii, where visitors run a gauntlet of hawkers and self-appointed car park wardens to a vast and poorly signposted complex with no restaurants and just three toilet facilities. Bondi said the commissioner, appointed for an initial one-year period, would be someone "with authority, strong [and] capable of... [read full story]
