Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, February 19 2021 – One year after the start of the pandemic, the twelve councilors for culture of the large Italian cities presented their proposals to the press in support of urban cultural ecosystems, made fragile by a year of health emergency and the uncertainty that still governs their activity.

Immediately aware of the damage that the pandemic situation would have caused in the socio-cultural system of the country, the councilors of the municipalities of Rome, Milan, Turin, Bari, Venice, Florence, Ancona, Bologna, Cagliari, Naples, Genoa, Palermo, gathered in coordination, have spoken in recent months with both the Ministry and ANCI, obtaining concrete results especially with regards to the guarantees reserved for cultural workers.

The result of constant coordination work and the shared desire to fully realize the right to culture, the proposals presented today by the twelve councilors are part of a desired alliance between the Government and the territories in which culture exists, produces and is develop.

Museums, theatres, entertainment venues, exhibition venues, places of art and culture: the cities intend to make their widespread knowledge of the cultural world and its problems available to the Government, laying the foundations and establishing together the protocols for a recovery on as certain, rapid and homogeneous as possible throughout the national territory.

The proposals presented concern:

a) the guarantee of the opening of places of culture with a single protocol: this would avoid the reversibility of the openings, except in particularly serious situations, it would guarantee the continuity of the cultural presence in the territory, it would ensure work and trust, it would give substance to the inalienable right to culture and would provide citizens with controlled and safe alternatives, instead of forcing them into a sociality compressed into a few, and poorly controlled, public or private places.

The experience of the cities, the seriousness with which theatres, museums and places of culture have shown their ability to manage the opening periods, the elasticity of the service, the willingness to adapt to the constraints that become necessary from time to time, make this realistically possible goal.

b) the guarantee of the opening of museums and places of culture even on weekends, in compliance with every regulation established to date for the containment of health risks and awaiting the desired single protocol. A necessary intervention for the sustainability of cultural work, to guarantee continuity in the conservation of heritage, to allow access to places of culture to all workers in the country, and therefore full respect for the right to culture.

c) the establishment of a permanent local bodies table in constant dialogue with the Ministry of Culture and, within the new structure of ministerial undersecretariats, the creation of an undersecretariat with responsibility for relations with ANCI and local bodies, as has already happened in the past for Tourism. This new reference would open a constant dialogue with the Ministry and would guarantee the coordination of cultural policies - necessary for the rebirth of the country - between the central government and the cities, which would make themselves available with a spirit of service as interlocutors for the construction of shared policies and as spokesperson for the requests arising from the territories.

Finally, the councilors hoped for the creation of a special fund intended for the restart of cities on a cultural level.

“These proposals arise from the experience of local government and the continuous and constant commitment to protecting production, programming and cultural work. With the practical sense that distinguishes the world of cities, one year after the start of our collaboration, we want to align ourselves with what was supported by the Prime Minister Mario Draghi in the reply to the Senate: 'The risk is of losing a heritage that defines our identity […] Much has been done, we need to do even more'”, declared the councilors.