MiBACT funds for coronavirus, so far only crumbs come to the south

The distribution of the first funds that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has allocated in the August decree is causing controversy. Subject of contention are mainly the resources of the strategic plan “Major Cultural Heritage Projects” and those of the relief fund for businesses in tourist cities affected by the coronavirus. There is talk, in all, of more than 600 million euros, but the south of the country will see only crumbs of this money.

The “Major Cultural Heritage Projects” plan allocates 103 million euros for eleven interventions considered strategic by MiBACT: of these, however, only one is in the south. It is the project for the completion of ongoing interventions at the Archaeological Park and Museum of Sybaris, financed with 3 million euros. The other 100, however, are all earmarked for projects for the north and center.

And there is also much discussion about the half billion from the tourist city relief fund, whose allocations were determined on the basis of a particular ranking, which takes into consideration only the ratio of foreign tourist attendance to inhabitants and allocates funds to the top 29 cities in this ranking. The result, however, is that large chunks of the south are forgotten: all of Calabria, for example (but it must also be said that MiBACT’s disregard also concerns a region where tourism is also an important item of GDP, namelyUmbria, which is also completely excluded, as are four other entire regions: Valle d’Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Molise and Abruzzo). Moreover, out of 29 cities, only 9 are in the south.

The issue has been raised by several press organs, including Il Messaggero, which devotes an article to the distribution of ministerial funds today by Barbara Jerkov and Francesco Malfetano: the two journalists also heard from the ministry to ask for clarification on the criteria adopted to distribute the 500 million from the relief fund for commercial activities in tourist cities. MiBACT responded by saying that it adopted a system “to identify a certain number of urban centers on which to have immediate effects in economic terms,” because, they explain from the Roman College, “the measure had to be circumscribed and a parameter was needed.” From the ministry, however, they assure, “it is true that some art cities will not have access to the bonus, but this does not mean that they will be abandoned because they will be able to take advantage of other measures provided by the August decree.”

The ranking on the basis of presences in the capital, however, cuts out provinces where even there are centers that have strong attractiveness to foreigners: Jerkov and Malfetano give the example of Sassari, where the capital municipality does not count strong tourist presences, but cities such as Alghero or Arzachena count, among their tourists, about 70 percent of foreign presences each year. “The ranking made ad hoc by MiBACT,” the two journalists conclude, “is therefore an obvious statistical simplification of the Italian tourism scenario and, as such, does not reflect the complssity of the sector.”

In the photo: the Archaeological Park of Sybaris. Ph. Credit Peter Stewart

MiBACT funds for coronavirus, so far only crumbs come to the south

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