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Claudio Lavanga / NBC News
Workers cover 2,000-year-old graffiti in Pompeii with Plexiglas on Tuesday.
Published at 8:23 a.m. ET: POMPEII, Italy -- On Tuesday evening, the sound of a pneumatic drill broke the silence that has been part of Pompeii's character since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the city in 79 A.D.
Three workers cut holes in one of the city's historic walls, attached mounts with concrete and fixed a Plexiglas cover to protect 2,000-year-old graffiti.
"Sorry we don't have hard hats on," the men said, as if not following safety standards was the only thing wrong with their supposed preservation work. In fact, according to experts, the workmen were defacing priceless antiquities.
"Oh my god, look at them. Do you see an archaeologist around?" said Dario Sautto, a member of Italy's Cultural Heritage Observatory who witnessed the work.
In Pompeii, it's a race against time to preserve what's left of this ancient site, before it becomes history. NBC News Correspondent Claudio Lavanga reports.
As is so often the case with the preservation of Pompeii, the cure appears to be worse than the disease, he said.
"Those men are bricklayers, without a qualified supervisor in sight," he added. "They are just patching things up ahead of the visit of the [European Union] commissioner."
Indeed, on Wednesday, Johannes Hahn, regional affairs commissioner for the European Union (EU), was surveying Pompeii and discussing the start of the Great Pompeii Project, a multimillion-dollar plan to revamp and secure the decaying archaeological site -- and stop patch-up jobs like the one Sautto had just witnessed.
Pompeii, an ancient city blanketed by 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice after Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago, is just one of thousands of Italian sites that have attracted tourists and archaeologists alike for hundreds of years. And for decades it has symbolized the failings of the Italian state in preserving its rich historical, cultural and archaeological heritage.
In 2010, one stone too many crumbled -- the famous House of Gladiators, used for training before fights in the nearby amphitheater, collapsed into a pile of rubble. The world's archaeological community cringed, and so did the EU.
So the EU pledged to spend 105 million euros (about $142 million) to make sure that interventions like the one witnessed Tuesday become a thing of the past.
The project consists of "using some of the most sophisticated and up-to-date technology to preserve the ruins of the site, which has been badly damaged in recent years," the EU said Tuesday.
Franco Origlia / Getty Images, file
The House of the Gladiators was cordoned off after its collapse in 2010, drawing attention to the fragile state of Pompeii.
Despite 2.3 million tourists visiting the ruins of Pompeii every year, the site has slowly been falling into decay due to mismanagement, corruption and the influence of the "Camorra," the local mafia.
Millions of dollars have been spent in the past to try to prevent the UNESCO World Heritage Site falling into disarray, but every attempt to turn the ancient site into a truly modern tourist attraction has gone up in smoke.
On Tuesday, Annamaria Caccavo, a businesswoman who won a multimillion-dollar restoration tender to work on Pompeii, was placed under house arrest on charges of aiding abuse of office, corrupting a public official and fraud.
"The problem with Pompeii is that they always treat its preservation like an emergency," Sautto said. "But the emergency started in 79 A.D., not today. And still they can't figure out how to save it."
Caccavo's arrest, which came a day before the EU officially stepped in to straighten up the ruins' management, sent a signal that legality and transparency will play a major role in the new regime.
Pompeii has never been famous for its preservation, and pieces fall off its ruins regularly. Only 30 percent of the site is open to the public, with restoration works frozen in time, just like the casts of its citizens who died when Vesuvius erupted. Guards around the site are outnumbered by stray dogs, and public toilets are a lucky find in the maze of ruins.
The EU's Hahn said he took more than a professional interest in helping ensure the protection of Pompeii's treasures.
"I have taken a great personal interest in getting this project off the ground ever since I heard about the collapse of the House of the Gladiators in November 2010, when I happened to be in Rome," he said. "Here is a chance not just to help save something which is part of Europe's cultural identity but to revitalize (the regional) economy by attracting more visitors and creating new jobs."
In Pompeii, it's a race against time to preserve what's left of this ancient site, before it becomes history.
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It's Italy, what do you expect?
Italy is fascinating. There are ruins everywhere you look. In Rome, on Palatine Hill, there are ongoing excavations and jumbles of artifacts laying everywhere. Beautiful stone carvings, pieces of gorgeous marble columns - the work of a lifetime for an enterprising (and independently wealthy) archaeologist. This kind of restoration work costs a lot of money, and almost everything requires some kind of maintance. When you come from a country where a 100 year old building is something rare and unusual, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that almost everything around you is centuries older than your country. One thing that is really impressive is that you can drink out of all the old fountains - the plumbing installed so many centuries ago is still operating and piping in fresh, clean water.
The government is totally corrupt, the people lazy, the women are hairy and smell like garlic and fritos! The power grid is iffy, most food spoiled, riots over not getting free stuff, police on the take, potholed roads, open sewers, nobody uses tooth paste or toilet paper, .....
must I go on?
lol... never been, eh?
What you are trying to say is that the leadership in Italy is corrupt-care more for money than national treasures-sounds familiar . Is the EU their guardian after bringing them to financial ruin ? No wonder that Belsconi said recently that Mussollini may not have been so bad for Italy. He made trains run on time , would not take usury loans and got rid of mafia - all while under sanctions from Britain, France, the US. In view of the current Italian debt and unemployment maybe Italians have a second thought.
Mussollini made an absolute mess of the Hill and the Colosseum. The trains are pretty impressive though.
"Pompeii, an ancient Adriatic city" -- sorry to be picky, but it's on the west coast, which makes it a Tyrrhenian city. The Adriatic is on the east coast.
Very cool!
I think you need to look at what the graffiti actually was. It the bulk of it was very graphic to say the least.
It's part of history. The society was much more open than it is today. You will see phalluses, which were considered as fertility and good luck signs, all over the town. My take is that if it offends, don't go there or don't go with young children and take it in the context of the times. Besides, anything written would be in Latin, and not too many people read Latin.
It's a shame they can't get their act together and at least maintain the site.
I hope they can get it under control and fix it up. I was there in 2006 and its truly an amazing site. it would be such a terrible shame to let it go to waste.
Claudio Lavanga stayed up all night to come up with this line, didn't you?
Where's "This Old House" when you REALLY need it!?
It seems weird that the EU would be worried about this. Italy should be handling this. Plus, it seems a little too much, too late, since the city was destroyed. LOL
Go to Herculaneum...fewer tourists, easier access, much less of a Disneyland atmosphere. Even better in the rain.
Thank you for the tip, Alan. I someday hope to visit both sites. It is difficult to believe that Italy can neglect a site where everthing was frozen in one moment in time.
I am guessing, but it would seem the tourist business should generate more than enough money to stabilize and restore the ruins.
The number of tourists who visit Pompeii every single day is unbelievable. How much of what they pay to visit stays in Pompeii...well, we all know how that works.
There is a highway bus stop/cafeteria on the route down from Rome, however, that makes the restaurants in Disneyworld look empty. Wonder how that setup works with the bus companies?
where was the eu and its precious scientists when the original disaster even happened? There was amplee evidence that an explosion of monumental proportions was set to occur and yet offiicials never evacuated a single person but instead quietly left the city themselves in order to escape while their people died as if thats what they wanted to happen. who cares what happens to the aftermath, the people demand to know what the officials knew prior to the attack and what happened that this informattion did not get relied down to thsoe physically on the ground at the site.
Are you joking?
I voted it up because I think it's sarcasm. If not, whoopsie.
However, Litterhater left off the part about the Senate sub-committee "grilling" the survivors in a "heated" debate.
Actually, when I was in Italy, I noticed that sometimes the work (anywhere) would come to a stand still until more funds were raised to continue. As with Pompeii, I believe the funds "used to be" there. Who knows where they went?
let's see how many people died in this event? Oh yeah that's right over 2000 so no I'm not jokking and it's especially rediculous of you to ask that when you weren't related to any of the people involved in any way.
LitterHater. The EU would not exist for another one thousand nine hundred and fourteen years. The Roman Empire didn't do a very good job of warning people but they were later sanctioned by the Galls amongst others. The fall of the Roman Empire gave rise to a dark age of anarchy and barbarism that later turned into the European Union, with a couple of minor historical events in between. For more information, visit a library or even start with Wikipedia (just don't stop there). Good luck.
Are any of you guys aware that an Italian court recently found scientist guilty of not predicting an earthquake?
That just might be the concept being applied...sarcastically of course.
Litterhater: I believe it was Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger (his nephew) who documented the disaster at Pompeii 79 A.D. Pliny the Elder had gone to Pompeii to rescue some friends, but was overcome and killed by the gases that were expelled during the eruption.
As for a warning system, about the only thing they had may have been some bells and a trumpet or two. And that wasn't all that reliable. In Pompeii, many were killed by the gases, while in Herculaneum, it is supposed that the people were killed by the bombardment of rocks and boulders. (Bodies in Herculanuem were found huddled under bridges and objects of substantial structure, thus supposing heavy things were falling from the sky. Most Pompeiians were found collapsed in a variety of places and not sheltering, hence gas.)
And this wasn't an attack. It was a volcano that erupted. Officials and anyone else who left the cities were just lucky. Most had experienced quakes and shakes for years, as had been recorded in a number of histories. (Not unlike these days, I might add.)
Litterhater, you might try Wikipedia for a quick read, or just about any history book to brush up on your ancient Italian history. (I believe this history was recounted in my Weekly Reader in grade school. As I recall, it was in the mid 1960s.) As Gary Parks pointed out, it's been nearly two millennia since the events in question, so the EU wasn't even a gleam in anybody's daddy's eye.
Also, they were working on the restorations in the 60s, too. So, yes, the Italians are not working at the quickest pace.
Got Troll? ;)
Come on, Italy - stop this nonsense. This site is history frozen in time, valuable beyond belief for the entire world. Get your act together and figure out how to preserve Pompeii once and for all.
Second chance to save Pompei?
What, a government-run volcano eruption mitigation program?
The gopers will never go for it. The program would have to employ scientists and use actual mathematics or some such blasphemous technology...
They call it Pumpeii for a reason.
I don't think I have ever read a more pitiful (but well written) article in my entire life! If this exemplifies the E.U., then they are TOTALLY in trouble! - RC
(One of the leading indicators of a civilization in decline is the failure to take proper care of antiquities.) - RC
This makes me so sad. I was in Pompeii in the late 90's and it was crumbling then. I'm shocked to see it continues and has increased. Please, please EU, stop this and protect this site!
And um, LitterHater...are you dead serious in your response, or was that sarcasm? If you're serious, I have just lost all faith in humanity. *sigh*
Pompeii was full of litter every where I looked. I was so surprised, and that was in 2009. The place was a mess, Trash in every corner.
The only real reason the Italians tried to preserve Pompeii was for the tourist dollars. The whole city could easily be recreated in Las Vegas and it would be a more pleasant experience for tourists.