Superintendency 'autonomous' on stadium (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, February 20 - Culture Minister Dario Franceschini on Monday said Rome's heritage superintendency was "autonomous" and could not be overridden in its recommendation that a horseracing stadium on the site of a planned new AS Roma soccer stadium was a historic building to be preserved. "On restrictions and opinions, superintendencies are autonomous," he said. "If I intervened to try to influence ongoing procedures, I would be breaking the law," he said. However, he said that once all procedures and appeals have been exhausted, the matter could come to a "final decision" by cabinet. The hippodrome at the Tor di Valle site was designed by Spanish architect Julio Garcia Lafuente and built in 1962. Roma are talking to Rome's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) administration to see if a slightly revised and downsized version of their original project can go ahead and give the club its long-desired private stadium.