Snowfall records threaten historic Italy

According to a correspondent in Rome, a record cold wave and record snowfall have seriously affected some of the most famous historical sites in Italy.

The Colosseum in Rome was forced to shut down for several days after some small walls were collapsed. The reason is that the heavy snow and the low temperature have affected the exposed walls.

Many buildings in the historic city of Urbino - a World Heritage Site - are also at risk of collapse due to the weight of the snow following strong unprecedented blizzards in the area. Experts are currently assessing the damage in the famous locations of Urbinino, such as the San Francesco and San Bernardino monasteries to make a remedy.

Colosseum in cold days.

The closure of the Colosseum caused thousands of visitors to Rome in the past two weeks to feel quite disappointed by not being able to explore this world-famous monument and also depriving the city government of a source. substantial revenue. Typically, the Colosseum welcomes about 7,000 visitors per day with a ticket price of 12 euros.

Spokesman for the Italian Cultural Heritage, Cristiano Brughitta said that outdoor open-air monuments, such as the Colosseum with nearly 2,000 years of age, need a ready-to-protect system to protect Deal with similar rain and snowstorms in the future. However, some argue that such options are quite difficult and costly because relics such as the Coliseum are too large, so more feasible options should be taken into account.

Also related to the impact of cold weather in Italy, the Italian Farmers' Association (Coldiretti) on February 16 said that cold weather and snowfall have damaged farmers in the country about 300 million euros.

Farmers in the Lazio Region, including the capital Rome, were the hardest hit with losses of up to 35 million euros, followed by Abruzzo regions of 32 million euros, Marche and Sardinia each of about 30 million euros. .

Thousands of cattle and poultry such as horse, pig, rabbit and chicken died in the last cold. Revenue from the consumption of livestock and crop products has been reduced by about 5% due to cold weather making many consumers decide not to leave the house. In addition, vegetable prices have also increased strongly by 32% during this cold spell.