Italy will place 38 monuments damaged by the April 6 quake in L'Aquila and surrounding towns up for 'adoption' to countries which have volunteered to help fund their repair, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday.
The premier was speaking after talking with Culture Minister Sandro Bondi who had toured L'Aquila to assess the damage to art sites.
Berlusconi said he has asked Bondi to come up with a list of monuments by next week, which will also specify what repairs must be carried out, how long it will take and the funds needed.
''I'll present that list to all the friends who offered to help immediately after the quake,'' said the premier, quipping that it would be a ''sort of wedding gifts list''.
Last week, Berlusconi spoke to a number of foreign leaders who expressed interest in his idea of each country helping fund the repair of a major art site.
After contacts in the United States and Europe Wednesday, Berlusconi received ''interested'' replies last week from, among others, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Pakistan Premier Yousaf Raza Gillani, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, Slovenian Premier Borut Pahor and French Premier François Fillon.
''(Spanish Premier Jose' Luis Rodriguez) Zapatero mentioned the Spanish fort at L'Aquila. Maybe he can take care of that,'' said Berlusconi.
The premier said the government would step in to fund repairs for monuments that ''foreign friends'' could not adopt.
''The repair programme will all be strictly scheduled, with signs indicating dates for the start and end of work.
Funds will not be an issue,'' he said.
Practically all of L'Aquila's artistic heritage suffered serious damage in Monday's earthquake.
Abruzzo's largest Romanesque church, the 13th-century Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio was perhaps the best-known building hit.
The Basilica, with its famed pink-and-white jewel-box façade, was the site of the coronation of Pope Celestine V in 1294 and thousands of pilgrims still flock there each year.
The cupola of the 17th-century Anime Sante church designed by Giuseppe Valadier and the bell tower of L'Aquila's largest Renaissance church, San Bernardino da Siena, were also damaged.
The Porta Napoli, the oldest and most beautiful gate to the city, built in 1548 in honour of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, was destroyed in the quake.
A 16th-century castle housing the National Museum of Abruzzo was another casualty.
