The Guardian reports on the sad state of affairs at Rome's legendary Non-Catholic Cemetery (widely known as the Protestant Cemetery) where tree branches cracked and fell last Friday, damaging a grave and barely missing the tomb of poet Percy Shelley. Considered by some to be due to lack of funding for landscape maintenance, Friday's damage is just the latest in the saga of the decaying cemetery which houses the graves of poets Shelley and Keats, as well as dozens of famous diplomats, composers, actresses, and artists. Overgrown weeds, years of pollution, and lack of funding are attributed to the cemetery's many cracking and crumbling tombstones. In 2006, the privately-held cemetery was added to the World Monument Fund's 2006 Watch List of the 100 most endangered sites on earth, yet monetary assistance has yet to arrive.

The cemetery, which was founded outside of Rome's city limits in 1734 because non-Catholics could not be buried on Rome's consecrated ground, has somehow escaped the notice and financial support of the city and the Italian government. Many of the more famous graves, such as those of Keats and Shelley, are maintained by foundations or private funds, and newer graves are generally supported by family members. Yet about half of the graves, holding people long dead, receive nothing at all.

If you want to help, a new organization, Friends of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome, has been founded to help raise money to preserve the cemetery, and the cemetery also appreciates volunteers who wish to donate their skills and time.