Ilaria Borletti Buitoni on Italy's Cultural Recovery: Hopes and Concerns

Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, President of the Società del Quartetto di Milano and Vice President of Fondo Ambiente Italiano, offers her opinion on Italy's cultural sector in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The government's 'Rilancio' decree allocates significant resources to culture, providing hope for a struggling sector that includes live performance, museum foundations, cultural enterprises, festivals, and cooperatives managing heritage sites. However, Borletti Buitoni expresses deep concern over announced cuts by regions and banking foundations redirecting funds to social and health emergencies. She highlights long-standing issues: excessive bureaucracy, delayed public funding tied to convoluted algorithms, suspicion toward cultural foundations despite their constitutional role of subsidiarity, and unfair taxes like IRAP that burden the third sector. She criticizes past practices of scattered contributions, unqualified commissions, poor state-region coordination, underuse of European funds, heavy bureaucracy, ineffective regulations, and lack of ex-post controls. Borletti Buitoni praises Minister Dario Franceschini for initiatives like the Art bonus, extended to all live performance sectors, and the indemnity for entertainment workers, though she notes it needs extension. She calls for clear and feasible reopening rules, warning that without them, many theaters and concert halls will not raise their curtains again, depriving Italy of its cultural identity.