ROME, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The Italian jewelry firm Bulgari has promised a donation to clean up the crumbling Rome cemetery where British poets John Keats and Percy Shelley are buried.
The five-acre cemetery containing 2,500 graves in central Rome was named one of the most endangered sites on Earth by the World Monuments Fund, ANSA reported Monday. Most of the work on the grounds is done by volunteers.
The Bulgari family, some of whose members are buried at the site, has promised 20,000 euros ($23,717) to buy a new watering system, ANSA said.
"My aim is to encourage others to step forward and to help put this precious spot on a sound financial basis," Nicola Bulgari said.
The Canadian, German, Netherlands and Norway Embassies in Rome have also come forward with donations, ANSA said.
The cemetery dates back to 1738. Poets Keats and Shelley are the most famous occupants. Keats died in Italy of consumption at age 25 in 1821. Shelly drowned when his sailboat capsized off Tuscany in 1882.
