Published on CNN on 24th May 2013:
Italy is famed for fashion, food and, of course, history.
In fact, Italy has the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites of any country in the world.
As other social needs have taken priority in economically turbulent times, however, the country’s budget for maintaining and restoring some of its greatest tourist attractions has been drastically reduced. While the Italian State Tourist Board said it couldn’t supply statistics,as much as a third of culture budgets (€1.42 billion/$1.83 billion) have been cut over the past three years, according to a September 2012 report in The Daily Beast.