EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE INITIATIVES

The number of countries engaged in developing global strategies for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage is continuously increasing. This is doubly significant: intrinsically for its cultural value, extrinsically for its effects on the economy, territory, environment and society. The Ministry of Education, University and Research coordinates and supports projects submitted by cultural institutes of excellence. Among the Flagship Projects of the National Research Programme 2010-2012 is the study of the sumptuous Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. Excavations, which took place in the eighteenth century, produced many detailed documents, but 90% of the Villa remains unexplored. As part of the International Platform on space exploration, a world conference is to be held at the church of San Romano in Lucca, Italy, in which prestigious Italian and foreign structures are involved, regarding technical innovation for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage.