Before and After. Renovating the Bridge of Sighs and the adjacent Doge's Pallace took three years and cost $3.7 million
When famed polish movie director Roman Polanski signed up to make the film Pompeii in 2007--a now stalled big-budget epic about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79--Italy, home of the Pompeii ruins, was his first choice for shooting. But the production ended up moving to Spain, since tough-minded Italian officials typically object to film crews' trampling over the archaeological site and the Spanish government beat out Italy with a cheaper offer.
In today's feeble economy, Italian officials might have tried harder to cut a deal. As the euro-zone crisis has deepened and forced larger budget cuts in debt-ridden Italy,...
