The failures at the Ministry of Culture have become a daily chronicle in the Italian press. Two years after coming to power, Giorgia Meloni still enjoys solid popularity, but there is one area that the Prime Minister has made a priority, and where she is struggling to impose her mark, and that is culture.
The proof: we have had three resignations in recent months. First there was that of the Undersecretary of State for Culture, Vittorio Sgarbi, a recognized art critic accused, among other things, of having acquired a painting fraudulently, which he vehemently denies. The investigation into this matter is closed, we will see if it leads to a trial. Then in September, it was the Minister of Culture who had to resign in turn.
In a story worthy of a Balzac novel, Gennaro Sangiuliano became infatuated with an intriguer who recorded or photographed a good part of his actions and looked through it all on Instagram. His successor, the current minister Alessandro Giuli, had to part ways with his chief of staff, accused of conflict of interest.
Beyond the political anecdote, these stories are important for Rome, because Giorgia Meloni starts from the principle that Culture is generally in the hands of the left and that to leave a lasting mark, the nationalist right that she embodies must propose other stories, another imagination. We are in the country of the philosopher Antonio Gramsci who believed that power is won in minds as much as in the ballot box. There is also the idea that we need a more popular culture, less for the elites.
But the majority's action is limited for the moment to firing directors of museums and institutions to place relatives in their place, which each time arouses controversy. This is still the case right now.
She got her hands on Rai, even more clearly than her predecessors, who all did it. She also has execrable relations with left-wing intellectuals who regularly recall the post-fascist origins of her party. She alienates part of the world of cinema by reducing subsidies, believing that part of the money was used to finance confidential productions.
But beyond all this, which obviously raises a lot of questions, what vision of art, of collective narrative, of the revolution of new technologies in the field of culture? The visible change is limited to an exhibition dedicated to JRR Tolkien, of whom Giorgia Meloni is a fan, last year in Rome and a series on great figures in history dear to the right this year on Rai. It is true that major exhibitions, festivals or audiovisual productions are planned over several years. But when it comes to Culture, Giorgia Meloni has so far more undone than built.
