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Standing amid the charred rubble on the morning of January 30 1996, the then mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, pledged that La Fenice would be rebuilt "com'era, dov'era" (as it was, where it was). And, within the bounds of the possible and desirable, that is exactly what has been done.

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Operatic phoenix rises from the ashes (The Guardian, 6th December 2003)

Oh, and I can't help sniggering at this bit (sorry):

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Two electricians hired to rewire La Fenice were facing the prospect of having to pay penalties because they were behind with their work. So they decided to sprinkle petrol through the 18th century wooden building and burn it down in the hope that nobody would find out.

But they did. Earlier this year, Enrico Carella and his cousin, Massimiliano Marchetti, were given six- and seven-year prison sentences.

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What the hell? It's as if some twit blew up Oxford University because he missed an essay deadline.

The mind boggles.

[ 08 December 2003: Message edited by: albireo ]

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It's as if some twit blew up Oxford University because he missed an essay deadline.

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I would be that twit...hasn't anyone else fantasised, in the wee hours of the morning -- after the third pot of coffee and a whole box of Wake-ups (tm), when you don't think you can make it through typing the last 5 pages of the 20-page essay you should have started 5 weeks ago and only cracked a book the afternoon before -- that all your worries would disappear if the Social Sciences building at the University just burned down?