Friends, Romans: help restore Rome's ruins, monuments

Rome has pleaded for patrons to help pay for the restoration and maintenance of some of the hundreds of fountains, monuments, archaeological sites and historical streets in the Italian capital.

City officials said Tuesday they are grateful that fashion companies like Fendi have paid for restoration of prestigious monuments like Trevi Fountain and that even foreign countries like Azerbaijan are helping to spruce up city museums and archaeological excavations.

But they say more help is needed, including for less glamorous but equally important routine maintenance of monuments and archaeological areas dating back to ancient Roman times.

Among their "100 proposals" for sponsors is the fountain in the square outside the Pantheon and for archaeological study of an area near Caesar's Forum.

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