Dear Sir / Madam
this is to inform you that a law has recently been approved by the Italian Parliament, which decrees the creation of a joint stock company (“Patrimonio dello Stato S.p.a.) whose task will be to manage, promote, and even to sell the assets of the State, including those of historical and artistic value. The law exempts only assets of "special" artistic value, whose identification is however left to the discretion of the Minister of Economy "jointly" with the (less powerful) Minister of Culture. Therefore there is no guarantee that valuable assets will not be sold off. We feel that this principle is wrong and we ask our foreign friends and colleagues to participate in our concern.
If you agree, we would be very grateful if you could return the following letter, undersigned and stating your position and the name of your university / museum / institute etc., to this address: donatalevi@hotmail.com. We would be grateful for any suggestions you might have regarding the further publicizing of this petition. Please feel free to contact us, if you need any further information about the issue.
Yours sincerely
Marco Collareta and Donata Levi

To the “Presidente della Repubblica”(President of the Italian Republic)

To the “Presidente del Senato” (Head of the Senate)

To the “Presidente della Camera” (Head of the Lower Chamber)

To the “Presidente della Corte Costituzionale” (High Court of Justice)

To the “Presidente del Consiglio” (Prime Minister)

The recent approval of the law n.63/2002 (law regarding the joint stock company
“Patrimonio dello Stato S.p.a.”) deeply concerns all interested
in the preservation and study of the Italian cultural heritage (enviromentalists,
historians, art historians, archaeologists, archivists, librarians, etc.).

The text of the law fails to make a clear distinction between such diverse concepts
as “promotion”, “management” and “sale”
and this confusion opens the way to many dangers, in the face of which neither
the rather vague conditions expressed in the law nor the promises made by the
majority are sufficiently assuring. One senses that behind the law lies the
wish to transform a nationally shared heritage into the private property of
a few individuals. Ever since its creation and even in the hardest times and
most difficult phases of its history, the Italian State has never contemplated
giving up full rights of ownership over its heritage. By contrast, the only
kind of value that now seems to hold any weight is mere market value, to which
the higher and more permanent symbolic values, with which Italians have always
identified, risk being sacrificed.

It is not enough to be told that neither the Colosseum nor the Trevi Fountain
are to be sold. We uphold the principle whereby the environmental and historical
heritage of the whole of Italy, including its apparently minor manifestations,
constitutes a wealth common to all its citizens. This wealth of course requires
management and preservation, in which private individuals may certainly play
a role, but no part of it should ever be sold. The apparent solution today of
temporary economic difficulties will lead to poverty of all kinds – not
merely economical – tomorrow.

In accordance with the concerns expressed by the President of the Republic in
his letter to the Prime Minister and with paragraph 9 of our Constitution, we
invite the Government to suspend application of the law. We also express the
wish that these issues be the object of discussion on the part of all those
concerned and especially of experts, both Italian and not, with a view to limiting
the application of the law.

Marco Collareta

Associated Professor of History of Art, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa

Donata Levi

Associated Professor of History of Art Criticism, Dipartimento di Storia delle
Arti, Università di Pisa