Objectives
In the Italian Constitution, the main legislative reference in cultural matters is represented by Article 9, which states: “The Republic promotes the development of culture and scientific and technical research. It protects the landscape and the historical and artistic heritage of the Nation”. The main legislative implementation of Art. 9 is due to the Heritage and Landscape Codex, adopted by Leg. Decree 42/2004,that synthesized in a single text a large number of previous specific laws (see chapter 4.2.2).
Within the broader framework of the cultural objectives pursued by the 1947 Constitution – heritage and landscape protection, cultural development, pluralism and freedom of expression – “heritage” has traditionally been the main focus of cultural policy, starting from the name of the first Ministry established in the mid-70s: Ministry for Heritage (Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali).
The prominence of heritage as the cornerstone of our cultural policy was thus emphasized: “safeguarding” and “restoration” being the key functions absorbing most of the financial resources allocated to the cultural field. Support for contemporary creativity and wider access continued to be a low priority, as stated by the Council of Europe in 1995: “at the hint of any conflict between tutela and public access, the public were invariably the loser”.
As specified in the following sections, moreover, the fundamental competences of this Ministry are quite wide on different cultural domains, including performing arts, libraries, film, landscapes, etc. The following more detailed objectives for government action had been defined by Leg. Decree 368/1998, creating the new Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities:
- the protection and valorization of cultural heritage;
- the promotion of reading and of books and libraries
- the promotion of urban and architectural quality;
- the promotion of cultural activities, with particular reference to the performing arts, film and the visual arts;
- the support of artistic research and innovation;
- higher training in all cultural disciplines;
- the diffusion of Italian culture and art abroad.
These matters still remain the basis of government action, although between 2006 and 2021 a series of legislative decrees have partially changed the areas of competence of the Ministry (for example with respect to the tourism sector) and its organizational structure (see chapter 3.1 and 4.2).
Although there is no automatic correlation of these objectives with the cultural policy principles of the Council of Europe – promotion of identity and diversity, support to creativity – they appear to be well connected with identity and creativity issues, and in some way with participation. On the other hand, the goal of promoting diversity in cultural life as a whole has not yet become a real priority for our national cultural policy (see chapter 2.5).
Main features
There is no official definition of “culture” in Italy, nor are the boundaries of the cultural field outlined in a rigid way by government action. The rationalization of most of the cultural competencies under one single Ministry was, actually, the outcome of a very long and fairly empirical process.
However, Italy has always been actively involved in the process to establish a common definition of culture, carried out by international organizations, as a precondition for pursuing statistical harmonization and comparability among countries[1]. The original Eurostat definition of the cultural sector, agreed upon by the Italian and the other EU governments, covered the following domains: heritage; archives; libraries; visual arts and architecture; performing arts; books and the press; cinema and the audiovisual sector. Crafts and advertising have also been added in 2013.
The Italian cultural policy model may be considered from an economic and an administrative point of view.
The economic model is closely connected to a mixed economy system, with the public sector historically being the primary funding source for heritage, museums, archives and libraries, and, to a certain extent, for the performing arts, whereas the cultural industries are mainly supported by the marketplace, although supplemented by public subsidies in case of poor market performance (see chapter 7.2). On the other hand, heavy constraints on the national budget induced public authorities of all levels of government to encourage a direct involvement both of the non-profit private sector and of the marketplace, even in the fields of heritage and the performing arts.
Art. 117 of the Constitution includes, among the matters reserved to the exclusive legislation of the State, the protection (tutela) of cultural heritage, while among the matters of concurrent legislation between the State and the Regions, are those relating to the valorization (valorizzazione) of cultural and environmental heritage and the promotion and organization of cultural activities, leaving any other aspect to the regional legislation. Particularly relevant is also the constitutional “principle of subsidiarity”, on the basis of which private individuals can participate in activities of general interest, especially if they are owners of cultural assets (see chapter 4.1.1).
As far as government action is concerned, the administrative model has traditionally been one of direct intervention of public administration in the support of cultural activities, and, in many cases, in the management of cultural institutions (museums, sites, theatres, etc.) through national Ministries or local ad hoc departments. However, at the national level, a few quasi-independent public bodies do exist and, since 2014, some major state museums have been the object of a process of reorganization that has implied a significant economic and organizational autonomy (see chapter 1.3.3).
Background
Italy is a comparatively young state, whose unification dates back only to 1860. The first laws pertaining to cultural matters were adopted by the Parliament in 1902 and 1909, focusing mainly on safeguarding a limited complex of monuments considered to be of national interest. In fact, given the unparalleled wealth of the multi-layered Italian historic and artistic assets and the considerable burden of its maintenance on the public purse, heritage has always represented the prevailing domain of public policy in the cultural sector.
A noteworthy parenthesis to this longstanding trend was to be witnessed during the 1920s and 1930s under fascist rule, when Italy was one of the first countries to create a ministry specifically in charge of the cultural sector: the Ministry for Popular Culture. Despite the negative implications of such a Ministry being created under a dictatorship – censorship, ideological propaganda, etc. – the farsightedness and the anticipatory view of the role of the State in the policies for culture of the fascist regime are by now generally acknowledged.
A large part of Italian cultural legislation dates back to the late 1930s and early 1940s, and many fundamental regulatory references of the time were incorporated into subsequent regulations and remained in force until the 2000s[2]. The same is true for the surviving major cultural institutions: the Institute for Restoration, the national broadcasting company (RAI), Cinecittà and Istituto Luce.
As in Germany, our Ministry for Popular Culture was immediately abolished after the war: yet, whereas cultural competencies were devolved to the Lander in the former case, in Italy they were instead retained by the State and split among several Ministries. As already highlighted, the constitutional principle of protection of cultural heritage was actively pursued from the outset, whereas the promotion of cultural development remained for decades in the background. Thus, for a long time, support for contemporary creativity and access to the arts were not considered a priority. Participation in cultural life gradually gathered momentum through the cultural industries, the high level of film production and the new mass medium: television.
A relevant institutional turning point came with the decentralization process, when the 15 ordinary Regions that were foreseen by the 1947 Constitution were finally established in 1972. Active cultural policies were in fact undertaken by some of the Regions, aware of the potential of culture to assert their own identities, soon followed by the Municipalities (see chapter 1.2.3). When regional and municipal departments for culture were embedded in most local administrations, the call for a broader participation in cultural life became a widely debated national issue.
Other relevant institutional changes emerged in 1974, when a separate Ministry for Heritage was created by regrouping responsibilities for museums and monuments, libraries, cultural institutions from the Ministry of Education, for archives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and for book publishing from the Prime Minister’s Office[3].
At the turn of the last century, the central role acquired in Italy by cultural policies, in the framework of development policies, played a significant role in removing the last obstacles to a full rationalization of the state cultural competencies. In 1998 the scope of the Ministry for Heritage was extended to embrace responsibility for the performing arts and cinema, previously entrusted to the Ministry of Tourism. When further responsibilities on copyright were added in 2000, the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities (MiBAC)had finally achieved the full status of a ministry for culture[4]. In 2013 the Ministry was further empowered with responsibilities on tourism, thus being renamed the Ministry of the Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali/MiBACT). Recently the responsibilities on tourism have been transferred for a short while to the Ministry of Agricultural Policies and then (2021) to a new autonomous Ministry of Tourism. On this occasion also the acronym “MiBACT” changed again becoming simply “MiC”, Ministry of Culture, (Ministero della Cultura).
[1] Action was undertaken first by UNESCO’s Framework for Cultural Statistics, followed by the EU’s Eurostat Working Group on Cultural Statistics and, subsequently, by ESSnet- Culture.
[2] Not only on the protection of heritage and the landscape (reference is made in particular to Law n1089/1939, known as “legge Bottai”), but also in support of artistic creativity, such as the comprehensive Copyright Law, or the Law on “2% for the arts in public buildings”.
[3] The transfer of responsibilities for the performing arts to the new Ministryturned out to be premature at the time.
[4] Only responsibilities for support and regulation of television, radio and the press, as well as arts education, remained out of its reach.
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