Leopardi manuscripts at risk

(ANSA) - Bologna, October 27 - Bologna Mayor Virginio Merola on Thursday offered to take the manuscripts of 27 poems by great 19th-century Romantic poet Giacomo Leopardi including his famed L'infinito that have been threatened by the earthquakes in central Italy.
    "We'll house them here in Bologna and we'll give them all the solidarity we can as citizens," said Merola after the Marche town of Visso, where the manuscripts are, suffered further severe damage from the two big quakes Wednesday evening.
    The Palazzo dei Governatori in Visso, where the manuscripts of 'L'infinito," 'La sera del di' di festa', 'Alla luna' and 24 other much-loved works are stored, was first damaged in the August 24 quake that devastated central Italian mountain villages and killed almost 300 people.
    "I'd advise the Comune di Visso to put them somewhere safe, preferably in a bank vault," Luca Cristini, cultural heritage chief for the archdiocese of Camerino and San Severino Marche, said at the time.
    The palazzo has now suffered further damage and is threatened by the collapse of an adjoining church.