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Need a Place for an Ad? Then Adopt an Obelisk

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Times Staff Writer

Visitors to Rome could be forgiven if they concluded that the city is awash in refurbishing. Everywhere one looks, it seems, scaffolding hugs the facades of churches, obelisks and Renaissance-era palaces.

In reality, there is more going on here -- or less, actually -- than meets the eye.

Billboards are prohibited in Rome’s historic center, the site of ancient ruins and some of the world’s most famous monuments. But a tiny loophole was written into the law a few years ago, and advertisers are enthusiastically taking advantage of it.

They offer to pay for the restoration of a historic building. In exchange, the city allows them to hang gigantic advertisements on the scaffolding erected for the project.

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That would be bad enough, says Adriano La Regina, the former head of the state archeological office. But the law is being abused. Scaffolding and ads have a habit of staying up for months and years beyond the normal time of a restoration project, sometimes with little or no work being done.

“It is a shame, a terrible abuse!” La Regina says.

In Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo, the landmark obelisk that Emperor Augustus brought from Egypt in 10 BC was recently covered in metal caging topped with a huge ad for a Ford sports car. A sign says the obelisk is being covered “for observations.” And above the famous Spanish Steps, central meeting point for Romans and tourists alike, the 16th century Trinita dei Monti Church has been encased in ad-swathed scaffolding for years, ruining what should be a spectacular view. At another corner of the Piazza di Spagna, a building designed by Bernini has ads for cellphones, Dolce & Gabbana and lots more.

Defenders of the practice say getting advertisers to pay for much-needed renovations is smart, especially because the government is strapped for cash and can’t pay the upkeep on Italy’s vast cultural heritage.

“This has been a brilliant initiative that has dramatically helped clean up the city,” said Jonathan Doria Pamphili, scion of an aristocratic family with important real estate holdings, including a 17th century mansion on Piazza Navona.

One advertiser miscalculated big-time, however. When an enormous banner promoting the movie “The Da Vinci Code” was draped on the early-Renaissance San Pantaleo Church on a busy street here a few weeks ago, Roman Catholic Church officials protested. It was an ad too far, and the sponsor relented. Now a black space hangs where the movie promo once beckoned.

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