Vittorio Sgarbi's destructive influence on Italian architecture

Vittorio Sgarbi, an art critic and politician born May 8, 1952, has heavily impacted Italian architecture negatively, despite not being an architect. He blocked a reversible extension to Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara designed by Labics after a regular competition. Sgarbi's opposition may stem from political motives (his mayoral candidacy) or personal reasons (a denied exhibition extension). He reduces architecture to non-utilitarian art, opposing any intervention on historic buildings. He promoted the destruction of Franco Minissi's 1957 cover at Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina, replaced by an ugly structure. Sgarbi allies with Salvatore Settis and Tomaso Montanari, citing Mario Botta, Paolo Portoghesi, and Mario Bellini selectively. The article by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi criticizes Sgarbi's performative salvaging of beauty, his violent rhetoric, and his lack of disinterested critique.