The figures of culture in Italy "Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

The figures of culture in Italy

August 2nd, 2009 | by Joseph C. |

As mentioned in the preceding article , the Ministry of Heritage and Culture has released a mini-guide on the figures, for 2008, the culture in Italy.

The guide, in pdf format, you can download from the Ministry of Culture : 32 pages divided into different sections where it shows a selection of data related to aspects of the production, preservation and dissemination of culture in Italy.

In this article I will only highlight some of these data, those that I consider more significant and that, in my opinion, offer good food for thought.

Start from the numbers on Museums, Monuments and Archaeological Areas: 4,739 museums and similar institutions, public and private, open to the public. Of these 399 are state institutions: 198 museums, 201 monuments and archaeological areas; are 4,340 institutions (802 monuments, 129 archaeological sites, museums 3,409) employees from other public and private.
Isolate the data of archaeological sites: 201 and 129 state employees from other public and private. Then, on page 30, I read that among the employees of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Archaeology there are 350. I will only add to 350 archaeologists (compared, for example, of 4,649 employed in administration). Considering the state websites (201) the average of archaeologists per site is 1.7, whereas even those addicted to other institutions the average is lowered again.

In addition to the first two places of government entities, with entrance fee, there are just the most visited archaeological sites: the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum - Rome, with 4,777,969 visitors, and excavations of Pompeii - Naples with 2,233,496 visitors. I do not think a site like Pompeii suffice 1.7 archaeologists.

It seems, therefore, that there is an imbalance in the type of staff employed and considering that this item (Staff Costs) removes 48.8% of the resources devoted to the culture (Chart p. 27) maybe you should think about investing in more staff specialized.

In general, with respect to resources allocated to culture, to 0.23% of the state budget, a figure of 1.719 billion euros, a figure does not seem too comforting.

Professor Marilena Vecco, professor of Economics of art and culture of markets and taxation at the University Ca 'Foscari of Venice, said in an interview with Affaritaliani.it : "It is said that public investment in culture represents the 0.30% of GDP, or is a four or a ten compared to what is being invested in other European countries, whatever the measure taken, it is a very small percentage. "

I invite you to read also this press release the Ministry of Culture in March 2009 which are reported in other interesting data about resources for culture and cultural tourism.
We carry only a small part:
"In our country the Mibac in 2009 will reduce the jurisdiction of 23 percent compared to 2008, for an endowment that will amount to 1.568 billion euros, representing 0.22 percent of the total budget of the State. Figure that will undergo further reduction in 2010 (-0.7 percent) and 2011 (-11.5 percent). In addition, a further deduction for funds for the show (FUS) and is between 456 million euros earmarked in 2008 with 398 million expected for 2009 (-13 percent). Situation still critical for investment in tourism. The funds for tourism have been reduced by 49 million euros in 2008 to 33 million in 2009 (-31 percent), while Italy, with its 15.9 million euros allocated for tourism promotion (-37 percent compared to 2008) is last in Europe, where, for example, Spain and France will spend 160 95 "

We hope, however, that there is a turnaround and that the good intentions expressed in the press conference on July 29 by the Minister and the Head Bondi Resca become concrete actions.

There would be discussed on many other details so I leave you to read the document and I invite you to use the space for comments of any type of observation.

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