Abstract

In 2008 and in 2009, Italian Government asked for the cooperation of the Civil Protection's National Service in order to face and manage the emergencies that are affecting two of the most notable Italian archeological sites: Pompeii and Rome. Special commissioners were so appointed to the administration of these sites. This essay offers a critical analysis of these Governmental decisions. First of all, the study highlights that Civil Protection intervention as the appointments of commissioners may turn out to be a defeat for ministry action, such as proving its inefficiency. It is also uncertain the real usefulness of these commissioners, who proved to be of not real help in other similar emergencies. Anyway, three conditions seem to be required because this way of facing emergencies works out well: the commissioners must have a good understanding of the specific situations and needs and they have to act quickly; causes of the emergencies and responsibilities for them must be established; fuctionality of the administrative system needs to be verify so to realize whether rules in force are suitable and tasks are divided up well.