Seven Missions Impossible: Italy Launches Campaign to Save Monuments

ROME, Oct. 9, 2007 — -- Italy is riding high after last week's successful return of the first four of 40 prized antiquities from the Getty Museum in California.

It's the latest result of Italy's dogged efforts to recover what it considers looted Italian art sold to museums around the world.

Now Italy's Ministry for Culture is launching a new project to draw attention to another aspect of Italy's immense artistic patrimony, some of its forgotten sites.

Italy has an abundance of art and cultural sites. Many are in disrepair and the country does not have the funds to restore and protect them all. Speaking on Italian TV, Francesco Rutelli, Italy's minister of culture, seated next to the four repatriated Getty pieces, announced the country's latest cultural-preservation project: a fundraising telethon to help save some of the country's crumbling landmarks.

"We don't have enough money to restore all the art we have. It is estimated we would need 700 million euros [$980 million] a year — and that's just an estimate!" Rutelli said.

Appealing to Italians, he said, "We all have to do more, but each citizen with one small gesture can make a difference. … Each Italian can just give a small amount and then say, 'I, too, have helped to save a bit of Italy.'"

The Italian Ministry of Culture takes care of 403 museums and archaeological sites in Italy, which have enjoyed a 20 percent increase in visitors in the last five years. The country spends $420 million for restoration and upkeep of its cultural heritage annually, and private donations from Italian citizens and companies total about $59 million. But this is not enough and is low when compared with what other history-rich European countries receive. France takes in a reported $490 million a year in donations.

The money donated will be earmarked for seven selected "forgotten" sites chosen from a vast list, and each will get an equal share of the donated money. The other sites vying for funds may still get some of the donations if more than the target amount of $700,000 per site is reached. Launched this weekend, the campaign has already raised $4.2 million.

The seven off-the-beaten-track "treasures" chosen for the telethon represent different periods of Italian history and are not known as national landmarks or mass-tourist destinations.

They are dotted around various regions throughout Italy: a museum of musical instruments in Cremona, Lombardy; the greenhouses at the Castle of Racconigi in Piedmont; the Phoenician city and necropolis of Sulky on the island of Saint Antioch in Sardinia; the house of the Emperor Augustus on the Palatine Hill in Rome; the tactile Omero Museum in Ancona, Le Marche; the medieval site of Santa Maria del Cedro in Cosenza in Calabria; and the historic train ride between Siracusa-Modica-Ragusa in the Val di Noto in Sicily.

Each of these sites, which Rutelli has dubbed our "seven missions possible," was chosen by the ministry and will be featured in a series of programs scheduled on government-backed RAI public television channels. Famous Italians — like the tenor Andrea Boccelli, the conductor Riccardo Muti, together with popular Italian actors and singers — all participated in the project for no pay and will appear in the short videos about each site.

Boccelli chose to represent the tactile Omero Museum, the only museum for the visually impaired in Italy, which few people have heard of. It was founded in 1993 and unlike in most museums, visitors are encouraged to touch the artworks, all replicas of famous Italian sculptures and monuments.

Speaking on Italian television from his home, Boccelli, who is blind, said, "This museum is not only for the visually impaired. The ability to see works of art is not everything. Many people who just focus on seeing have lost the joy, the experience of touch and contact."

The museum for priceless string instruments in Palazzo Palavicini in Cremona, birthplace of the famous Stradivarius, is also one of the chosen seven.

"It's a room with instruments, which has been abandoned, forgotten and most people don't even know it ever existed," said Italian violinist Elena Majoni. This project includes a new school for future instrument restorers, as well.

In Sicily, the abandoned railway route Siracusa-Modica-Ragusa was built at the end of the 1800s, and was considered a courageous engineering feat at the time. It winds for about 70 miles through the beautiful countryside in the Noto Valley of Sicily and, once restored, will take visitors to the famous baroque towns along the way.

Donating to the fund is as simple as a text message from a mobile phone — which contributes the small sum of $3 or you can buy a $4.20 gift card at gas stations or highway food stops. More generous donations can also be made with bank transfers or a credit card using toll-free numbers. Donations from abroad can be made with a credit card by calling Italy on +39-06-62294667 — some of the operators speak English.

The project is outlined on the Web site www.maratonarte.it www.maratonarte.it.

Of course, critics will argue there are far too many famous monuments and archaeological sites in Italy that are not cared for properly. Vandalism and disrespect for the country's artistic heritage are often reported here.

When a TV host showed Rutelli a short video of Rome's monuments sullied by trash, even rats, the culture minister said, "It's a very tough battle, a continuous one. … We need tougher sanctions against those who damage Italy's monuments. Luckily, not all people behave badly … but there are some and we have to be tougher with them."