Museums closed, Lazio Regional Administrative Court rejects Sgarbi's appeal: health protection prevails

The Lazio Regional Administrative Court has rejected Vittorio Sgarbi and Codacons ’ appeal against the closure of museums: the art historian was in fact asking for the reopening of cultural venues on the basis of the assumptions we summarized in an article devoted to the matter. “The conditions for granting the precautionary application do not exist,” the order reads, “since it does not appear manifestly unreasonable, within the scope and limits of the review allowed to the administrative judge, the decision of the Authority to compress for a circumscribed period of time an interest that is certainly significant for individual and collective well-being, such as that of the enjoyment of museums and other places of culture, because of the particular gravity of the current health emergency.”

The Tar, in essence, considers prevailing “the underlying need for the adoption of the challenged measures to protect the right to health, following the resurgence of the epidemiological contagion, through a significant reduction of the activities to be carried out in presence.” Again, the administrative judge noted that “any assessment regarding the possibility of allowing museums to be used again in light of the improved health situation is left to the discretion of the administration, which is called upon to adopt the relevant choice in compliance with the principles of adequacy and proportionality to the risk actually present.”

In short, the administrative court has objected to an argument that, on these pages, was discussed in the interview with constitutionalist Enrico Grosso published Tuesday. Now the possibility of an appeal to the Council of State remains, not least because, from the draft dpcm circulating this morning, the government seems intent on extending the closure of cultural sites until January 15. And the president of Codacons, Carlo Rienzi (who is also the lawyer representing Sgarbi in the appeal), has already let it be known that there will be an appeal to the Council of State. “Discretion,” the lawyer comments in fact, “must be reasonable, limited and proportionate. In the face of 34 mega-bookstores open in Rome where there are crowds, the 21 Roman museums where few people would enter and with strict measures are kept absurdly closed.”

Museums closed, Lazio Regional Administrative Court rejects Sgarbi's appeal: health protection prevails

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