Is the Italian Government seriously disposed to lend hotels the artworks preserved in museums’ storage?

As reported by Adnkronos press agency a couple of days ago, Ilaria Borletti Buitoni, the Italian “sottosegretario alla cultura” – who is a sort of influential vice-Minister of Culture – has supported a very disputable proposal regarding the artworks that Italian museums currently have in their storage and that, as Uffizi director Antonio Natali himself claimed, are most of the time far from being high quality artworks.

 

During a forum organized by Adnkronos itself in Rome, Bernabò Bocca, president of Federalberghi – the association of Italian hoteliers – has proposed that some of these artworks (masterpieces, according to him) would be lent to the 34.000 Italian Hotels, in order to be exhibited in their lobbies and common areas. « We have no preclusion – replied Ms. Borletti Buitoni -, the proposal is certainly suggestive, however it needs to be evaluated within a precise context ».

 

Ms. Borletti Buitoni, who has no specific studies in art history but held the same role also during the government presided over by Gianni Letta and has been elected in the party of the highly criticized former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, is missing more than one point in considering positively this proposal, starting from the fact that there isn’t any hidden treasure in the Italian museums’ basements, but in case just artworks that ought to be a fundamental source attracting scholars and researches from all over the world. Moreover, if she goes ahead with this weird proposal she will have to face a series of predictable dilemmas. Why, for example, not including restaurants, bars, supermarkets, shopping malls, pharmacies, or even hospitals? Who will then decide which, among these 34,000 hotels, will be eligible for hosting the artworks? Or, do Ms. Borletti Buitoni and Federalberghi believe that Italians are ready to walk into the lobby of an intimidating 5 star luxury hotel in Milan, Rome or Venice to admire what according to the Constitution of their country they should be able to access freely and easily?

December 18, 2014