Carelessness and lack of respect for culture claim victims

It was bound to happen sooner or later:neglect and disrespect for culture have claimed a victim, and a young victim at that, Salvatore Giordano who, just 14 years old, was killed by a collapse of a piece of cornice in the Umberto I Gallery in Naples. It is today’s news that 45 notices of guarantee have been sent for manslaughter and collapse. Among the recipients, we learn from the newspapers, officials of the technical office of the City of Naples and owners of premises that were located in the area of the gallery where the collapse occurred.

It is sorry to see that few in the world of culture have spoken about the incident: yet it is an incident that concerns culture itself. Because there is a cultural asset, the Umberto I Gallery in Naples, dating back to the late 19th century, that has been basically abandoned to itself. Already in the past months rubble had come off, and it was not even the first time. Why then did no one do anything about it? Why wasn’t the area secured? It would have been enough to properly transnect it, preventing people from passing under the risky points: because if last Sunday’s was not the first episode, it means that people knew about the dangers in the Gallery. A few more barriers would probably have saved the life of a 14-year-old boy. Even in the event that there were no funds to make the necessary repairs, it would have been enough to make the area safe by preventing the passage: it didn’t take much.

Now, of course, we hope that the culprits will be identified as soon as possible and pay their due to justice. The point, however, is not this. The episode is symptomatic of the state of neglect in which much of the country’s cultural heritage (and building stock) is in: not only in Naples, because such situations are widespread. Not to go too far from where we of Finestre sull’Arte live, it would be enough to see the state in which the Politeama of Carrara, which is located in the heart of the city, is reduced: closed for years with the area around it transennaded, because years of building abuse perpetrated inside it have led it to the risk of collapse (and already several collapses inside have occurred). And who knows how many situations similar to those in Naples and Carrara there are around Italy.

It is precisely from episodes like these that a concept becomes clear: Italy does not need so-called great works because the most urgent great work at the moment in Italy is securing the territory. Is this a utopia? Fine: so is it better to watch the collapses that follow one another day after day?

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