Faro Convention, reactions. Franceschini: good ratification. The League: shame on it.

The ratification of the Faro Convention has been substantially welcomed: today, with the House voting in favor, Italy joined the countries that had already ratified the “Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society.” Satisfaction from the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Dario Franceschini. “The ratification of the Faro Convention,” he said, “marks a fundamental moment for our legal system that finally recognizes cultural heritage as a crucial factor for sustainable growth, human development and quality of life and introduces the right to cultural heritage. It is a forward-looking text that expands the methods of protection and enhancement, just as our Constitution is forward-looking, the only one in the world to identify the protection of the landscape and cultural heritage among the fundamental principles.”

Also on the same liena was Marina Sereni of the Pd, deputy foreign minister: “Great satisfaction for the ratification of the Faro Convention,” she said, “which recognizes the universal value of cultural heritage, the role of citizens and local communities, international cooperation and dialogue between cultures to safeguard cultural heritage.” According to Sereni, this is, she told AgCult Agency, “a very important result: we had worked on it even in the previous legislature without being able to complete it. The confrontation in Parliament was long but it brought out the real value of this Convention.”

“Ratifying the Faro Convention,” said Rosa Alba Testamento, spokesperson for the Five Star Movement for Molise and a member of the Chamber’s Culture Commission, “means promoting confrontation, dialogue and mutual knowledge between different cultures, essential elements for the construction of a truly peaceful and democratic society.”

Strong opposition was expressed by the League, which was concerned about possible interpretations of Articles 4 and 7 (the former subjects the exercise of the right to cultural heritage to “such limitations as are necessary in a democratic society, for the protection of the public interest and the rights and freedoms of others”, while the second commits the parties to encourage reflection on the ethics and modes of presentation of heritage and to “establish conciliation procedures to fairly handle situations where contradictory values are attributed to the same cultural heritage by different communities”). Leghist MP Luca Briziarelli put it this way, “Hands off Italian culture. With all the problems that Italians, workers and the country have, today Parliament is not committed to solving them, but to approve a convention that will sell out our artistic heritage to Islam. Behind the appearance of good intentions, it will actually give the possibility to censor our art if other communities or individuals feel offended, such as, for example, the Islamic community. The political correctness of the Pd and M5s will introduce a new obscurantism and drop a veil over paintings and sculptures that are part of our identity and history.” The League, moreover, protested this morning against the ratification, bringing posters with Michelangelo’s David, the Riace bronzes and the Divine Comedy censored into the courtroom.

Strong opposition, in relation to Article 4, also came from Vittorio Sgarbi of the Mixed group: “What does it mean? Are we going to have to censor Pasolini, Céline? How is it possible that something so senseless can be written and even get your applause? Culture is free and deeply provocative, Pasolini’s life is a constant contradiction to political correctness. Should we veil, as Renzi did, the Roman statues at the Capitol to welcome the president of Iran? Is this the limit to which we are subordinated? It is clear that those like us who have a formidable law, which no other country has had, such as the Bottai Law of 1939 on the protection of heritage, do not need to bend their heads to take directions from those who have allowed globalization, destruction, disruption of heritage without protection. We have a sufficient guarantee of heritage protection, which is in the fundamental principles expressed by Italian aesthetics, by Cesare Brandi, by Roberto Longhi, by Bottai with his law, and we have to accept these ridiculous lectures of bogus common sense that are the symmetrical of the persecution of Salman Rushdie, that is, the idea that someone has to contain his language?”

Finally, the Forza Italia group abstained from the vote because of its misgivings about what they called “critical issues” inherent in the Convention text.

Faro Convention, reactions. Franceschini: good ratification. The League: shame on it.

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