Roman Landmarks Invisible Behind Gigantic Advertisements

[hatrack]

ROME - "There's a lovely 16th century church at the top of the Spanish Steps - (KRT) - Rome's premier gathering spot for tourists - but if you're visiting Rome this summer you won't be able to see it. That's because it's been draped in a giant advertisement for L'Oreal beauty products, the latest in a series of controversial ads to obscure the ancient city's monuments.

There's also a big bottle of shampoo covering up one end of the 15th Century Campo di Fiori, an outsized Vespa scooter zooming across a facade behind the Piazza Navona, and the Piazza di Spagna is dominated by a banner promoting coffee.

Soon, Rome's beloved Pantheon, the former pagan temple that has survived through the ages in the heart of the city, will become the first Roman antiquity to be covered with ads. Cellular phone companies have expressed great interest in the prestigious advertising space, according to Interpromos, the agency that has signed a six-figure deal to promote the marketing merits of the 2,000-year-old domed structure.

"It's a very important monument, and it would enhance the glamour of your product to have an advertisement on it," said Interpromos spokesman Carlos Sinopoli. Advocates of the ads say it's all for a good cause. Billboards have become an increasingly common sight on Rome's monuments since a 1997 law authorizing the sale of advertising on scaffolding to cover the costs of restoration work to the city's vast cultural heritage. But when a 2,000-square-foot lipstick ad featuring a huge pair of red lips appeared in May across the facade of the 15th Century Trinita dei Monti church, whose position at the top of the Spanish Steps gives it a commanding view of the city, there was an outcry."

EDIT

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/9214745.htm

[Hoping4Change]

1. This is disgusting. Guidebooks should advising tourists to

boycott Rome. Maybe this will slap the idiots who voted for Beresconi in the face and wake them up.

[RogueTrooper]

2. It is a living city not a museum

the cost of looking after all these monuments ( roman onwards ) comes close to crippling the Roman economy. They have been trying to upgrade their subway for thirty years and keep running into roman remains that need excavation. Boycot them by all means they may be quite happy.

[Hoping4Change]

3. What a RW argument that is. What has crippled the Roman is

Berlesconi's failed econimc policies. Public spaces are public and should not be dominated by private interest, in this case outdoor advertising.