Pompeii visitors must behave

Two thousand years after Mt. Vesuvius buried Pompeii under volcanic ash, Italy’s most-visited archaeological site faces destruction at the hands of vandals, tourists and government budget cuts.

Chunks of frescoes depicting life in the Roman city are missing, carried away by visitors or eroded by the elements. Graffiti is gouged into walls. Tourists ignore signs forbidding flash photography as they take pictures of erotic designs inside the Lupanare, an ancient brothel.

The ancient city southeast of Naples has deteriorated so much that Italy declared a state of emergency this month. It named a former Naples police chief, Renato Profili, to oversee the 188-acre site and make its 2.6 million annual visitors behave.

At a news conference Friday, Profili said his first priority is to “chase away” the hordes of unlicensed vendors and guides that meet visitors at the site’s entrance, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.