Uncobbled
The week's news at a glance.
Rome
Roman officials said this week they would begin paving some of the city’s ancient cobblestone streets. As cars and trucks bump along the cobblestone streets, they cause the roads to vibrate. These vibrations have begun damaging nearby ancient monuments and Renaissance palaces, officials said, adding that they had to put the preservation of the buildings before that of the roadways. “It’s difficult to find a balance in protecting the city’s landscape,” Maurizio Galletti of the Culture Ministry said. Smooth asphalt roads will also be much cheaper to maintain. Repairing cobblestone streets is a dying art, and Rome now has only eight masons trained to hammer replacement stones into place.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Nepal chooses toddler as its new ‘living goddess’
Under the Radar Girls between two and four are typically chosen to live inside the temple as the Kumari – until puberty strikes
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?