When your oldest and most prestigious monuments are falling apart, to whom do you turn?
To cobblers and dressmakers, it seems. That is according to Rome town council, which yesterday announced that the Trevi Fountain – which features in Federico Fellini’s 1960 classic La Dolce Vita in which screen siren Anita Ekberg paddles in it seductively – is to undergo a €2 million restoration thanks to the patronage (not sponsorship, please) of fashion house Fendi.
With Italy’s cultural heritage chronically underfunded, authorities have turned to the private sector to finance major refurbishment projects.
The announcement comes just six months after Rome’s authorities unveiled a plan to carry out a €25 million revamp job on what is arguably the Eternal City’s most iconic monument, the Colosseum.
The “patron” for that project is the luxury footwear company, Tod’s.
‘Cultural patronage’
In times of recession and global crisis, this is the way to go, according to council arts administrator Dino Gasperini, who called yesterday “a historic day”.
Reading between the lines, the arts assessore was saying: Look folks, the town council is skint so we have had to turn to the private sector to keep this show on the road.
For Mr Gasperini, the key word is “patronage” – this means Fendi will donate the money “without asking for anything in return – this will be a case of pure cultural patronage”.
Sounds too altruistic to be true? In a way. While the restoration work is going on, a sign beside the Trevi will point out who is picking up the tab.
When bits of stone and plaster fell from the Trevi last summer in the wake of an unusually cold Roman winter, experts sounded the alarm.