Work has been launched to save Italian UNESCO heritage site Pompeii from further damage, with 41.8m euro (US$55.94m, £35.42m) of European Union funds contributing to the 105m euro (US$140.51m, £88.97m) restoration project.

The purpose of the project is to preserve the site as a long-term tourist attraction, by consolidating structures on the archaeological site, introducing drainage and improving the training of on site staff.

The attraction currently attracts 2.3m visitors a year but its hoped this will increase by at least 300,000 when the restoration is complete in 2013.

Violent storms in 2010 caused the collapse of the Gladiators House and torrential rain in late 2011 caused further serious damage, leaving the number of individual sites open at any one time to just five - down from 64 last century.

EU regional affairs commissioner Johannes Hahn said: "Here is a chance not just to help save something which is part of Europe's cultural identity but to revitalise Campania's economy by attracting more visitors and creating new jobs."

The project will take a variety of measures to protect itself from organised crime group Camorra - which infects many parts of the region.