Update on Jewish Catacombs under Mussolini's villa

THE JEWISH CATACOMBS under Mussolini's villa are being restored in association with the Holocaust museum being built there:

Italy’s first Holocaust museum to be built in Rome

By LISA PALMIERI-BILLIG JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDE
02/22/2011 01:56

Country was partner, not victim, of Nazis, but hasn’t done soul-searching like Germany, says director.

ROME – Mayor Gianni Alemanno and the municipal authorities of Rome will be announcing on Tuesday the construction of a Holocaust museum as a focal point in the city’s 10-year “Stati Generali” plan for major projects in the city.

The Italian government and RAI-TV are currently sponsoring a television spot, which will be shown repeatedly until June, calling for Italians to submit any relevant wartime family records or material for exhibition.

Italy’s first Holocaust museum, based on preliminary plans drawn by architects Luca Zevi and Giorgio Maria Tamburini under the sponsorship of Rome’s previous mayor, Walter Veltroni, will be built in the central area of Villa Torlonia. The 2,500- square-meter building – estimated at a cost of 19 million euros, to be covered by the city – will be part of a designated 4,000-sq.m. area adjacent to both former dictator Benito Mussolini’s villa and the two millennium-old Jewish catacombs, that will be restored and opened for visits.

Other Stati Generali projects include modernizing Fiumicino Airport, improving the street network and restoring ancient cultural sites.

The museum’s director, Marcello Pezzetti, has a vast plan in mind, specifically aimed at increasing Italians’ awareness of their own role in the Holocaust.

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This museum has been in the planning stages for a long time; I've been following the story since 2004 (background here and follow the links back). Still no word on when the building will commence.