Cultural community to protest in Rome

(ANSA) - Rome, May 6 - Opponents to a recent overhaul of Italy's cultural heritage system and other government reforms are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a protest march under the banner 'To have one billion euros and die of thirst'.
    The slogan is in reference to the one billion euros in funding recently made available by the government for a series of "precise interventions, all of great size that have been left incomplete or shelved".
    Critics, including archaeologist Salvatore Settis, former culture minister Massimo Bray and art historian Tommaso Montanari, argue that these are "extraordinary funds...for spectacular sites" that do little to address the "emergency" affecting Italy's cultural heritage.
    "Ours is a cry of alarm, the future generations risk not inheriting the Italy that we know," Montanari said. And so on Saturday starting at midday representatives of Italy's cultural community will march from Piazza della Repubblica to Piazza Barberini in protest, calling also for a suspension of provisions for a greater role for the private sector in cultural management and of the recent civil service reform bringing the country's cultural superintendencies under the auspices of the prefectures. In addition, they are calling for new hires within the culture sector, programmatic investments for research and education and the introduction of art history teaching from the first year of upper secondary school.
    The demands hinge on article 9 of the Constitution formalising the importance of protecting Italy's artistic and natural heritage. photo: Bray