Cultural sector faces systemic collapse due to coronavirus

Luca Nannipieri warns that Italy's cultural sector—museums, libraries, theaters, festivals, bookstores, publishers—faces irreversible systemic collapse from the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of freelancers (archaeologists, restorers, curators, guides, etc.) have lost 100% of their income. Unlike other businesses that continued operating for weeks, cultural venues were the first shut down. Nannipieri argues that tax deferrals are useless when income is zero; instead, he calls for extraordinary anti-recession measures: a one-year tax cancellation and a generalized quarantine income for VAT holders. He predicts that without such urgent steps, 2020-21 will see both virus deaths and economic victims. The article cites restorer Eleonora Coloretti, who says that when the spotlight returns, they will be on the brink of the abyss. Only guaranteed public employees and those at prestigious institutions like La Scala or the Museo Egizio di Torino may survive.