Rome's restored Spanish Steps to be fenced

Enjoying a balmy evening and an ice cream while people watching - this is how thousands of tourists imagine spending time at the Spanish Steps in Rome. But the steps became very dirty over the years, and rather than enjoying the Dolce Vita, most visitors found themselves confronted with a veritable scruffy tourist trap.

Now the 138 marble steps at the foot of Pincian Hill are shining white again. The jewelry company Bulgari donated 1.5 million euros ($ 2.2 million) for the famous monument to be cleaned and restored, with cracked paving stones repaired and unsightly stains removed.

They had been closed off during the restoration. Paolo Bulgari, the chairman of the eponymous jewelry company, wants access to remain limited, at least at night. "It is a precious and fragile monument, like many others in Rome and across Italy. Now that it's been restored, we cannot allow it to revert to being an open-air sewer," he told the newspaper "La Repubblica."

"We cannot leave it to the barbarians who eat and drink there, making it dirty. People should be able to stroll up and down it but they shouldn't be allowed to use it like the steps of a stadium," he added. Bulgari fears that the now-pristine steps will be trashed once again if tourists are allowed to loll around at night, leaving bottles of wine and beer, dropping cigarette butts and writing their initials with marker pens.

But the call for a permanent fence to be built at the top and bottom of the travertine and marble staircase and for it to be locked every night has divided opinion in Rome. "As a Roman and a citizen of the world I think closing them is not a good idea," said Sapienza University art historian Eliana Billi.

The steps fulfill a historical function, namely to connect the Piazza di Spagna with the church of Trinità dei Monti. "Every time a monument is closed off in order to protect it, you also lose some of its nature as a public cultural asset," adds Billi.

Without the support of private companies, many monuments in Rome would not be shining in their former glory. Bulgari's decision to finance the restoration of the Spanish Steps followed similar acts of corporate philanthropy.

The fashion house Fendi footed the 2.2-million-euro bill for the restoration of the Trevi Fountain, while Tod's, the luxury shoe company, paid 25 million euros for the Colosseum to be cleaned and restored - sums that would be hard to cover with entrance fees alone at Italy's most popular attractions.

is/ks/sc (dpa)