With tourism and an economy in crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is profoundly affecting the cultural sector in Italy in monetary terms, after a summer in which tourism, especially abroad, fell strongly (-93. 2% participation in June, -76. 4% in July compared to last year), income is not enough for maintaining historic sites and relaunching the ground : according to global travel forecasts
New resources and new sponsors are sought to repair the suitability of the cultural sector, starting with Rome, which alone includes more than 1,400 hectares of Unesco sites that need constant recovery and funding. That is why the municipality of Rome signed this summer a vital two-year agreement with Unindustria, the branch of the Rome region of the national agreement Confindustria, comprising thousands of Italian companies, to sponsor the maintenance and monetary supply to many sites in the capital. In return, companies will be able to demonstrate their presence and role in the sale of the city’s ancient heritage.
The list is long: from the Neptune Fountain in Piazza Navona to the parks of Villa Borghese and Villa Doria Pamphili, it takes several million to help the monuments of the capital. “Rome is an exclusive city in the world due to the concentration of culture. The protocol we have signed with management will allow our corporations to be protagonists in the coverage and promotion of this heritage, through active participation in the elaboration of plans and recovery of the sites and by localizing cutting-edge tactics to make scale. “, said Filippo Tortoriello, president of Unindustria. Since tourism in Italy, as well as in the Region of Rome, accounts for 13% of GDP, the preservation of monuments is of paramount importance in the context of the renewal of the “Unindustria corporations are in a position to do their part for the immense beauty of this city,” Tortoriello said.
If the agreement between the city of Rome and Unindustria is exclusive of its kind, since it is for the first time an arrangement of several corporations, it is not the first act of its kind that takes a position in the country. Over the years, many companies have sponsored the recovery and brought to the courtesy some of the most important sites in Italy, acting as fashion buyers of the arts. In Rome, for example, haute couture corporations such as Laura Biagiotti, Tod’s, Fendi, Bulgari and Gucci have made really large donations to the city, between recoveries and parades between symbolic monuments. As an example, the Colosseum earned 25 million euros ($ 29 million) in investment from Tod’s for reclamation purposes alone, while Fendi targeted the capital’s fountains and aqueducts (adding the Trevi Fountain reclamation) and Bulgari to the iconic stairs. of Trinità dei Monti. Place the majestic church on the Piazza di Spagna. More recently, in Milan, Leonardo Last Supper’s air formula – incredibly complex, given the fragile strategy of frescoes with which he painted – at Santa Maria delle Grazie provided through Eataly, the world-renowned Italian food company, with an investment of 1 million euros. ($ 1. 16 million).
In order to systematize the help of natural and legal persons, the Italian government introduced in 2014 the so-called Art Bonus, a special scheme that presented tax incentives to those who made donations to the cultural sector. it is a list of all the sites that require intervention, the investment that was to be taken out and the resources that have been raised so far. The list comprises thousands of tickets, from Milan’s historic Theatre La Scala to Verona stadiums and Uffizi galleries. Florence, and there is also the option to recommend other monuments and sites that require investment. Three types of donations are possible: for the recovery of public monuments, for the financing of activities of cultural establishments, and for the structure or arrangement of theatres and other cultural sites. In addition, due to the coronavirus crisis, the government has made the decision to further expand the list of cultural establishments that need assistance, and there is now the option to make donations to entities such as orchestras, circuses and other entertainment teams.
Companies perceive that the component of their social duty is with society and the context in which they are located, among which have been active maxims over the years is the bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which has evolved since the 80s a joint articulation of interventions, ranging from the opening of a series of museums in Milan , Naples and Vicenza until the recovery of public works of art – around 2000 to date – and until the curatorship and sponsorship of various art exhibitions, all these movements are part of a corporate special called Progetto Cultura (Cultural Project).
“Each personal company can have a role to play in a strategic sector for our country, that of culture,” says Michele Coppola, Executive Director of Art and Culture at Intesa Sanpaolo and director of the Gallery of Italy, the group’s 3 museums. “Every company has to assume a social duty to its community. During these difficult months, Intesa Sanpaolo has not interrupted her cultural projects of which she is a member, such as the Turin International Book Fair, the Milan Miart International Art Fair, and the Cortona On The Move photography festival, and has also introduced new partnerships, as with the Artissima art fair in Turin. “
Despite an era of wonderful uncertainty, Intesa Sanpaolo is preparing to open 3 new exhibitions in Milan, Naples and Vicenza, showing some of the 30,000 works of art that are part of the bank’s artistic heritage, from archaeological artifacts to fresh art. The latest exhibition on neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova and rival Bertel Thorvaldsen, for example, recorded some of Italy’s highest figures. Today, the Gallery of Italy is one of the country’s top museums and Intesa Sanpaolo is also one of the main corporate collections of the outdoor landscape.
“The transfer of Culture is a strategic transfer for Intesa Sanpaolo and is a central detail of the bank’s allocations for the use of the country’s advantages. Recently, our artistic heritage has been established as a fair price in our monetary states, being identified as valuable as all other assets. The foreign platform The Case Center recently decided on us as a case with other global corporations like Apple, Amazon and Boeing: we are proud of this recognition,” Coppola continues.
For many months, the coronavirus crisis prevented others from doing any cultural activity, and during the closure, several Italian museums and cultural establishments presented online tours, with the aim of reinventing themselves and remaining prominent. to revive suffering but an essential component of the country’s life and economy. Intesa Sanpaolo assignments recommend that she be on the front line in this regard. “In January, we presented our assignment to build a fourth Gallery of Italy in Turin. You will be committed to photography, fresh art and the virtual world. We are sure that we will open it until the end of 2021,” Coppola concludes. “We have understood the importance of new technologies, which will want to expand further. But we are sure that museums, theaters and all other cultural spaces are irreplaceable. “
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