2,500-year-old terracotta gets Valentine Day’s love in Italy

ROME (AP) — A pair of terracotta lovers caught in a tender embrace for some 2,500 years are getting some Valentine’s Day TLC from Italian cultural officials. One of the most famous lovers’ statues in the art world, the reclining spouses fashioned out of terracotta are being offered high-tech protection from the threat of earthquakes and lesser tremors from passing traffic outside. Italian officials unveiled the 18-month project on Monday. The Sarcophagus of the Spouses, made by an unknown artisan, is actually an urn constructed to hold the remains of the deceased. It is a top attraction at the National Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia.