A 100-million-euro plan to rebuild
and restore cultural heritage damaged in the central Italy
earthquakes of last year is set to begin with large churches,
including the Basilica of San Benedict in Norcia, Italian
Culture Ministry Secretary-General Antonella Pasqua Recchia told
ANSA.
Other churches to be targeted in the plan's initial phases
are San Francesco and Sant'Agostino in Amatrice, the Cathedral
of Camerino in the town of San Ginesio in Macerata, and the
Sanctuary of Macereto in Visso, she said.
There have already been nearly 1,000 interventions to secure
structures, along with more than 17,000 items of cultural
heritage or archaeological artifacts recovered, 4,513 linear
metres of archives and 9,743 books saved from the rubble.
More than 600 technicians are at work on rebuilding and
restoration efforts, 80 of whom are working through the August
holidays.
According to figures released by the culture ministry, the
region whose cultural heritage was hardest hit by the quakes was
the Marche, with 2,456 items of cultural heritage damaged there.
That figure is double the number reported in Umbria (1,150),
followed by Abruzzo (742) and Lazio (473).
Pasqua Recchia said the ministry is called in particular to
intervene with ecclesiastical cultural heritage, because
individual towns take responsibility for public items of
cultural heritage, under the supervision of their individual
cultural superintendencies.
Ecclesiastical heritage items encompass the majority of those
damaged in the quake, with 100 churches in Amatrice alone.
The ministry estimates it will complete initial checks by the
end of the summer, with 200 left to go.
It is working on completing operations to secure structures,
consolidate frescoes, and save church organs - for which a team
of specialists has been assembled - prior to the arrival of
winter.
Pasqua Recchia said the 100-million-euro restoration plan to
rebuild the major churches will unfold over a long process.
"We start with the tenders for the plans, then there will be
those for the work," she said.
"These are challenging and costly projects that must be done
right".
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