ITALY-HISTORY-CULTURE-MUSEUM-BUDGET

A picture taken on February 17, 2015 shows the Palazzo dell'Autarchia housing state archives in the EUR district in Rome. Cash-strapped authorities in Rome are to auction off four Mussolini-era public buildings to fund the completion of a long-delayed but eagerly-awaited new conference centre by acclaimed architect Massimiliano Fuksas. Three museums and a building currently housing state archives will be advertised shortly with the hope of completing the sell-off by the end of the year, said a spokesman for EUR Spa, the state body which currently owns the buildings in the EUR district of the capital. "We are hoping to raise at least 300 million euros ($330 million)," the spokesman told AFP. The EUR district takes its name from Esposizione Universale Roma, the world fair Italian dictator Benito Mussolini planned to stage there in 1942. That plan had to be scrapped because of World War II with many of the buildings only half-finished. AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)