Italy's Moguls Renovate Ruins | Do You Bike? | Kelly Wearstler

Italy’s Moguls Renovate Ruins | Do You Bike? | Kelly Wearstler AOC Style

More than 45 million visitors kiss Italian soil every year, making tourism the country’s main industry, accounting for 8.6 percent of its gross domestic product.

The roof of Nero’s Golden Palace in Rome caved in last year, crushing a gallery and destroying a gilded ceiling. At the Colosseum, three large chunks of mortar fell to the ground just hours before the venerable theater opened to the public. And the ancient city that volcanoes failed to finish off might be done in by a lack of money: in November the 2,000-year-old House of Gladiators in Pompeii collapsed into a heap of rubble.

Now the countries luxury moguls are stepping in. Diego Della Valle, head of the luxury-leather-goods company Tod’s, and his friend, Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo launched Italia Futura, part think tank and urgent facilitator to raise funds for repairing the country.