Thanks for quoting me here in this post I find very interesting.

Just 3 things, that I say softly, without any desire to argue.

1) This sentence: “Italy’s priceless cultural heritage is slowly but surely disintegrating and the famous archaeological site’s decay [ie Pompeii] is a metaphor for the nation” is not true in my opinion.

Pompeii it is true lies in that part of my country – the South, starting from Campania southwards – that is mostly undeveloped (mafia, organized crime) and close to Third World. It is only one third of Italy though, the other two thirds being instead the richest areas in Western Europe according to pro capite statistics [forget Berlusconi, Italians have learned to survive in much worse political situations].

As for our South, it backwardness is a disadvantage but makes such regions also a reservoir of our ancient classical culture [my blog would not exist if it weren't for the South] since modernisation wipes out all traditions, good or bad. As an example some people out there still speak a corrupted form of ancient Greek and there are many survivals of the Greco-Romans (most Italian American were Southerners) and generally Southerners are closer to the Greco-Romans than any scholar of Antiquity will ever be.

2) This caption “”Open sensuality? Yes, since for example the sacred poet Virgil probably sighed for Alexis, a beautiful boy; Horace celebrated incest …” should be credited to the Man of Roma as you did with the other before it, since my website is copyrighted.

3) your blog is great and I am exploring it with pleasure

All the Best
From Mediterranean West

Man of Roma