Italy Cradle of Culture, but do Italians Care? Yes
Sunday, January 15, 2017
di : Judith Harris (January 11, 2017)
Italy Cradle of Culture, but do Italians Care? Yes
A new ISTAT report shocked many here for its showing that one out of every five Italians never, ever reads a newspaper or a book, or attends a cultural event of any kind. On the other hand, it means that four out of five Italians do participate in the nation's vibrant cultural life, beginning with museums.
A new report compiled by the national statistics-gathering agency ISTAT shocked many here for its showing that one out of every five Italians never, ever reads a newspaper or a book, or attends a cultural event of any kind, whether an art exhibition, a movie, concert, soccer match in a stadium or even a night out dancing. Fact is, however, that the figures are less distressing than at first sight. The actual percentage of those who dodge any form of cultural participation is 18.5% (and hence slightly fewer than one out of five).
Uffizi Gallery crowd
Archaeologist art historian Salvatore Settis
Minister Dario Franceschini
Even so, this figure means that more than four out of five Italians do participate in the nation's cultural life. Cultural consumption and participation are actually fairly difficult to measure. In Italy the data comes from counting attendance (how many museum entries, concert and theater tickets sold, etc.) as well as calculating actual participative activities, as in reading books and magazines.
Perhaps the most encouraging news is that the number of visitors to the 4,740 Italian national public, local and private museums and monuments continues to break records, thanks in part to the many Sundays and holidays when free entry is offered. The total number of visitors for 2014 was 40.7 million, with the largest number in the Lazio Region around Rome, 18.5 million, followed by the Campania and Tuscan Regions, each with 6.5 million visitors. The following year, 2015, the figure rose again, with 43 million visitors whose tickets earned $163 million, according the Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, who also has pointed out that this trend toward an increase in museum attendance is in contrast with negative trends in other countries. "These resources will be entirely devolved to the museums according to a system that rewards the best management and at the same time guarantees the smaller realities," he said. Franceschini has also broken with the bureaucratic tradition of appointing managers from within the system, by naming outsiders, including non-Italians.