Italy’s ministry of culture says that it is stepping up security at museums and monuments across the country, implementing a three-year, €300m plan designed to protect sites such as Rome’s Colosseum, Pompeii and the Uffizi gallery in Florence. The move follows the terrorist attacks in Brussels earlier this month, which claimed 35 lives.
Antonella Recchia, the secretary general of the culture ministry, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the ministry has identified 20 sites most at risk, where security has been increased.
“There is a greater police presence, as well as extra CCTV surveillance and metal detectors,” she said, adding that €50m has already been spent on enhanced security measures. The Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice and the Royal Palace of Caserta, southern Italy, are also included on the new list of endangered sites.
Recchia said that other cultural zones will also be safeguarded. “We have drawn up a list of 150 other sites where we will reinforce security, a second level of protection that covers archaeological sites.” She was not immediately available for further comment.
Italian prefectures (local authorities) will collaborate with museum officials on the establishment of emergency-response “task forces” as part of the new strategy.
