Monday, June 05, 2006
Saving Italy's
Patrimony with Corporate Sponsorship - Adopt an Obelisk?
The
ANNOTICO Report
I tend to agree with a body of
advocates who say bringing in money from the private sector is the key to
solving the problem. Currently, Corporate Sponsors are permitted to
"Adopt" certain Restoration Projects, allowing the tarpaulins
surrounding the scaffolding of restorations to carry the
"message" of the benefactor. Certain "abuses" can be curtailed
with "tighter" contracts and restrictive laws.
You certainly don't want the Colosseum to be renamed and emblazoned with "The AT
&T Colosseum" in 20' high Letters, as we in
the US are prone to do, BUT a Tasteful and
Refined homage to the Corporation/Sponsor -Renovator at the Entrance, and
permitting the Corporation to refer to its Civic Mindedness
in its ads, would not be onerous, and a mutually beneficial partnership.
See Previous Report: Italy's Treasures:Time and Tourists Taking Toll -Need for Corporate
Sponsors ("Italy's Fallen Arches")
NEED A PLACE FOR AN AD ?
THEN ADOPT AN OBELISK
By
Tracy Wilkinson
Times Staff Writer
June 5, 2006
ROME — Visitors to Rome could be forgiven if they
concluded that the city is awash in refurbishing. Everywhere one looks, it
seems, scaffolding hugs the facades of churches, obelisks and Renaissance-era
palaces.
In reality, there is more going on here — or less, actually — than
meets the eye.
Billboards are prohibited in Rome's historic center, the
site of ancient ruins and some of the world's most famous monuments. But a tiny
loophole was written into the law a few years ago, and advertisers are
enthusiastically taking advantage of it.
They offer to pay for the restoration of a historic building. In exchange, the
city allows them to hang gigantic advertisements on the scaffolding erected for
the project.
That would be bad enough, says Adriano La Regina, the former head of the state
archeological office. But the law is being abused. Scaffolding and ads have a
habit of staying up ! for
months and years beyond the normal time of a restoration project, sometimes
with little or no work being done.
"It is a shame, a terrible abuse!" La Regina says.
In Rome's central Piazza del Popolo, the landmark obelisk that Emperor Augustus brought
from Egypt in 10 BC was recently
covered in metal caging topped with a huge ad for a Ford sports car. A sign
says the obelisk is being covered "for observations." And above the
famous Spanish Steps, central meeting point for Romans and tourists alike, the
16th century Trinita dei Monti Church has been encased in ad-swathed scaffolding for
years, ruining what should be a spectacular view. At another corner of the
Piazza di Spagna, a building designed by Bernini has ads for cellphones,
Dolce & Gabbana and lots more.
Defenders of the practice say getting advertisers to pay for much-needed
renovations is smart, especially because the government is strapped for cash
and can't pay the upkeep on Italy's vast
! cultural heritage.
"This has been a brilliant initiative that has dramatically helped clean
up the city," said Jonathan Doria Pamphili, scion of an aristocratic family with important
real estate holdings, including a 17th century mansion on Piazza Navona.
One advertiser miscalculated big-time, however. When an enormous banner
promoting the movie "The Da Vinci Code" was draped on the
early-Renaissance San Pantaleo Church on a busy
street here a few weeks ago, Roman Catholic Church officials protested. It was
an ad too far, and the sponsor relented. Now a black space hangs where the
movie promo once beckoned.
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