Restoration work on historic monuments in Rome is often the cause of disappointment to tourists who find the church or palace that they want to see wrapped in scaffolding and often covered with a gaudy advertisement.

To help inform the public about works in progress, the sponsors of some projects (almost all of the work is paid for by the advertisement on the outside) have put up 200,000 for a small centre, where the public can see exhibitions of the restoration that has been done. The centre, outside the church of S. Agnese in Agone in the Piazza Navona, has already had one exhibition about the restoration of the bell towers of that church and visitors may get information on the restoration of the interior of the dome and the vault of the church. The next exhibition will be in collaboration with the central restoration institute of the ministry of fine art and culture, which will begin work in July on one of the most famous fountains in Rome, Berninis Fountain of the Four Rivers, also in the Piazza Navona.

As well as the work in Piazza Navona, visitors may also obtain information about works at the Museum of the Crypta Balbi in the Via delle Botteghe Oscure, the faade of the Villa Giustiniani, near the Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano, the Basilica di S. Marco, at the Piazza Venezia, the churches of S. Caterina dei Funari at the end of the Via Caetani and S. Chiara in the Via di Torre Argentina and at the Monastero dei Santi Quattro Coronati in the Via dei Quercetti.