The same Italian regional court that recently ousted five directors of Italy’s top national museums has thrown out the government’s plan to create a new archaeological park for the Colosseum and the surrounding area in Rome.
The decision, announced by the Lazio regional administrative tribunal (TAR) on 7 June, voids the international recruitment process for a new director to oversee ancient monuments including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Domus Aurea, which was due to conclude on 30 June. The post was designed as part of the Italian culture ministry’s campaign, launched in 2015, to modernise the country’s key museums and heritage sites, from the Uffizi in Florence to Pompeii.
The court upheld an appeal by the Five Star Movement (M5S) mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, on the grounds that the proposed management structure gave “excessive power” to the culture ministry and violated the “principle of fair collaboration” between the state government and the mayor’s office. The judges ruled that creating an independent archaeological park would disturb the unity of Rome’s Unesco-protected historic centre and deprive the city of the proceeds from ticket sales to the monuments.
The Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine were together Italy’s second most popular cultural site in 2016, attracting more than six million visitors. Raggi has claimed that the planned archaeological park would guarantee only 30% of the annual €35m ticketing proceeds to the local culture authorities, compared to 80% under the current administration. But the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, has blasted the mayor for spreading “fake news”. In April, he said in a statement that 80% of income from tickets at the park would continue to support monuments across Rome. The remaining 20% would be channelled into the state-run museums system.
Raggi took to Twitter to hail the decision as a victory for Roman citizens, while Franceschini tweeted: “We will contest.” He has pledged to push a counter-appeal through the Italian Council of State, which will decide on 15 June on the fate of the five suspended museum directors. In the meantime, the Colosseum and Rome’s central archaeological area will be run by Francesco Prosperetti, the incumbent superintendent.
