Русская версияMilan native Simona Cagno is worried about churches and historical
palaces that are disintegrating all over Italy right in front of
her.
"I don't know what I should say about this," she said.
"I can't
seem to find the words."
Private leasing and selling" instead of expensive restoration is
now apparently the word from Rome. In other words: getting rid of
monuments instead of holding onto them. In Verona, three palaces
and one former convent are about to be auctioned off so that the
city can afford a new parking garage for trade show visitors.
Have the Italian authorities lost their minds?
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Berlusconi's government is doing some belt-tightening
In Sicily, the region is planning to privately rent the
world-famous Temple of Agrigento for the next 30 years.
"It just makes me scream and ask: 'How much further will Italy
sink?'" said Gottfried Wagner with disgust. An historian, music
scientist, writer and opera conductor, Richard Wagner's
great-grandson has been living in Italy for almost 30 years.
The country has produced the greatest painters, composers and
architects not just for Europe, but for world history as well,
Wagner said.
"Where will we end up if culture is only abused for political
prostitution?" he asked.
Has the cultural legacy been lost?
Silvio Berlusconi would be more than happy to silence the skeptics
in Italy -- whether they are judges, monument preservationists or
artists. There hasn't been talk of an interesting cultural sector
for a long time now.
"Nothing considerable is taking place anymore that I would probably
appreciate," Wagner said, adding that in the past, there was a real
sense of excitement and now that no longer exists.
"And this is the cultural and spiritual situation at the moment in
Italy and I could say this a thousand times over: it's
frightening," he said.
Trash instead of culture -- what started in Berlusconi's television
programs has since spread through the entire country. Italy, the
cradle of the Renaissance and of the communal city character, is
trampling on its cultural legacy -- a legacy that attracts millions
of tourists to the country.
No money for culture
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Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Famous constructions are set to be leased
They marvel at Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, for example, and
most are overwhelmed by the 15th century mural painting's beauty.
The Fresco has been restored for 20 years to help stop its slow
deterioration. Private sponsors carry the costs for this almost
exclusively. The Ministry of Cultural Assets, which would normally
take responsibility for the "Last Supper" did not have enough
money.
Now the situation is even more depressing. Not even 3 percent of
Italian households will donate money for the maintenance of
monuments. And the cutbacks that the Berlusconi government passed
via a finance decree leave the budget of the Ministry of Cultural
Assets even smaller.
"The funds for cultural assets and museums have degenerated like
the political interest in culture," said Salvatore Settis, Italy's
most well-known monument preservationist. The
internationally-recognized art historian and director of the
state-run ivy-league-type school "Ecole Normale" in Pisa has
calculated that the savings totaling 700 million euros ($1 billion)
over three years mean less for the Ministry of Cultural
Assets.
No sense of culture?
In answer to the tentative question of where the Minister should
still make cuts, Antonio Leone from the governing party alliance
"Volk der Freiheit" (People of Freedom) said: "The minister must
now set priorities. The ministry received a certain budget and it
has to make do with it."
It is the minister's job to make cuts where cuts can be made, and
not to make cuts where they can't be made, he added.
(Deutsche Welle)
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