Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli has launched a campaign against the "silent pillage" of Italian landscapes by illegal construction.
Many beautiful parts of Italy's countryside are blighted by so-called 'eco-monsters' built without planning permission.
These eyesores are erected by constructors who hope the authorities will let them remain once they are up.
The practiCe has been encouraged by a series of amnesties on illegal building work issued in Italy in recent decades and by soaring real estate prices.
But Rutelli has vowed to stop this because "no one has the right to alter, impoverish and wound Italy".
Rutelli's plan is two-fold.
First he intends to deter illegal building by knocking down existing eyesores.
He has identified six "critical situations" where structures must be bulldozed.
These include the unfinished Alimuri hotel on the Amalfi coast in Campania, an area that was a favourite with US writer John Steinbeck, among others.
Another target is a building that was erected on top of ancient Roman ruins at the Gravisca archaeological site near the Lazio town of Tarquinia.
The culture minister described this as "an incredible product of the nation's madness".
He said it will cost over half a million euros to bring the building down without causing further damage to the treasures underneath.
The second part of Rutelli's plan is to prevent buildings being constructed in protected areas and other heritage sites through greater vigilance by local authorities and the public.
He gave the example of a thwarted project to build on the site of an 1867 battle between Giuseppe Garibaldi's forces and the Pontifical State's army, part of an unsuccessful campaign to capture Rome by the hero of Italian unification.
This plan was blocked by the local council after the Italia Nostra environmental association highlighted the importance of the site at Mentana near Rome.
Rutelli's campaign has won widespread support.
"We are backing Rutelli in the fight against illegal building," said Antonio Gentile, a senator with centre-right opposition party Forza Italia.
"He has our solidarity because the forces of good must unite in these battles, regardless of their political or cultural differences".
Giulia Mozzoni Crespi, the president of the Italian Environment Fund (FAI), gave the minister "unconditional support".
"Finally, a strong signal has been given at a time when the Italian landscape is facing more pressure from speculators than it has for years", Mozzoni Crespi said.
"Rutelli should continue on the courageous road taken".
Last year authorities blew up one of Italy's most notorious eyesores, a huge apartment complex blotting Bari's beach, after 20 years of polemics.
