The annual poll held by the Italian Fund for the Environment (FAI) regarding neglected, and often little known, Italian monuments that required urgent protection drew more than 500,000 replies from Italian and foreign citizens who have Italian heritage at heart.
The biggest number of votes (34,000) went to the ancient Abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano, built into the rocks of Monte Sant'Angelo in Apulia. Constructed by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6 th century on the remains of a celebrated pagan temple, the crumbling hermitage is still inhabited by a community of monks, who are struggling to keep it open to the public.
26,000 votes went to the 19th century patrician villa, Casa Desanti Bossi, in Novara (Piedmont), at risk of being sold by the local city council. The 16 th century Church of Santa Caterina at Lucca (Tuscany), the traditional church of the workers of the old cigar factory that was once opposite, attracted 19,000 votes.
