Joey - I was in Rome in Sept of 2010, so pretty close to when you were there.. I read an article after we were there about how the collesuem is in disrepair and the Italian govt doesn't have any $$ to maintain it, so they were looking for corporate sponsors.. kind of like they did for the Sistine chapel, the repair of the ceiling was funded by corporate sponsorship..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...-facelift.html