Toward the Meloni government: who will be the minister of culture? The papabili

Already people are beginning to talk, following the election victory of the center-right dragged by Fratelli d’Italia, about what form Giorgia Meloni’s government will take, and predictions are being chased about the various boxes in the council of ministers. Who will get the Ministry of Culture? There are several names vying for the Roman College seat. Let’s see what they are.

Three names seem to be in the front row at the moment: Vittorio Sgarbi, Federico Mollicone and Lucia Borgonzoni. Sgarbi, who ran in the elections with Noi Moderati, the fourth force in the center-right coalition, lost his challenge to Pierferdinando Casini at the College of Bologna and therefore failed to win a seat in Parliament: for the volcanic art historian from Ferrara, however, the doors of the ministry could open, by virtue of his long experience, including institutional experience (he was undersecretary for cultural heritage between 2001 and 2002, during the second Berlusconi government, when minister of culture was Giuliano Urbani, and was a longtime member of the Culture Commission) and his ties to the coalition’s third party, Forza Italia (his close relationship with Silvio Berlusconi is well known). In recent days, moreover, Sgarbi has already begun to almost speaking as a minister: in particular, last week, during the opening of the Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato in Florence, he unburdened himself on a first possible action, the establishment of a table of antiquarians to advise the Ministry on the purchase of works for museums (a sort of extension of the Apollo Group, which represents a major interlocutor on the world of antiques and which in 2017 led to the reform of the export of cultural goods).

Lucia Borgonzoni of the League seems to have an equal chance: she was the League’s leading candidate in the Bologna multi-member constituency and is vying for a seat in Parliament. Borgonzoni is the outgoing undersecretary for culture, and had also held this position in the first Conte government, when Alberto Bonisoli was minister. In Fratelli d’Italia’s view of focusing heavily on cinema and the creative industries, issues that Borgonzoni has dealt with in her institutional experience, the Bolognese woman’s name seems to be at the top of the list of the papabili. And even during the election campaign, she has focused heavily on cultural issues: she has made it known, for example, that she would like to create a large museum dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, and she has raised the issue of the serious shortage of personnel in the ministerial staff.

The third name in the front row is that of Federico Mollicone, head of culture for Fratelli d’Italia. During the election campaign he was talked about more for his releases on gender issues (he was the one who asked RAI not to broadcast the episode of Peppa Pig in which a family with two mothers appeared, an episode that, however, seems to bring his quotations down) than for his proposals related to culture. Mollicone is responsible for Fratelli d’Italia’s cultural program, which proposes to pursue some actions in line with previous governments (e.g., digitization, the borghi plan and others), but which leverages many “identity” issues, such as the promotion of historical re-enactments, the enhancement of the Jubilee 2025 and Rome “capital of Christianity,” or even the fight against cancel culture. During the election campaign, Mollicone, too, was very vocal in favor of movie theaters, historic mansions, and in general issues particularly felt by center-right cultural exponents, for example, tax credit and the extension of the Art Bonus.

Other names are circulating, however, and can be placed immediately behind the three most plausible candidates. During the election campaign there was talk of Alberto Barachini of Forza Italia, current chairman of the RAI Supervisory Commission, a journalist by profession, who, however, seems to be rather distant from cultural issues. Still looking at Forza Italia, the party’s culture officer, Francesco Giro, seems, if anything, to have the upper hand: there are important institutional precedents for him as well (he was undersecretary between 2008 and 2011). From the political world could then also emerge the figure of Marcello Pera, although the odds in his case do not appear so high. And particularly active in recent months has also been director Edoardo Sylos Labini, founder of the magazine CulturaIdentità, but his name does not seem among the strongest.

Finally, there is the possibility that the Meloni government will look to technicians, and in this sense the names are the most varied: they range from the current director general museums Massimo Osanna who could give continuity, to the honorary president of the Quadriennale di Roma and president of Federculture Umberto Croppi, former councillor for culture of the Alemanno junta in Rome, from Andrea Abodi, president of the Istituto Credito Sportivo who in recent issues has been the protagonist of many initiatives in the cultural field (starting with the measure by which in 2020 the institute granted 20 million euros for subsidized loans aimed at interventions on public cultural assets: it seems, however, that Abodi is in pole position for sports), to names from the academic world, above all that of historian Giovanni Orsina. It is then not to be excluded that the name of an outsider may emerge.

In the photo: Vittorio Sgarbi, Lucia Borgonzoni, Federico Mollicone.

Toward the Meloni government: who will be the minister of culture? The papabili

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