Italian government plans to build Holocaust museum in Rome

The government plans to invest €10 million ($10.6 million) in the project, according to media reports.

The museum is to contribute to "keeping the memory of the tragedy of the Shoah alive and present," according to a government statement.

The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that the city acquired an area in the Villa Torlonia park in the north-east of Rome for the project several years ago. The former summer residence of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is also located there.

After remaining at a standstill for years, the project will now move ahead.

"There is a Shoah museum in all the major capitals of Europe, and I thought it right that it should also be realised in our country," said Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy's culture minister The Cabinet approved the proposal late Thursday.

The Italian capital is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe. Ruth Dureghello, president of the Jewish community in Rome, thanked the government for its "concrete attention to the topic of remembrance."