This is how the mosaics of the UNESCO World Heritage Site die – Corriere.it

It’s painful, as reduced as it is, the stunning Roman villa in Piazza Armerina
. With those traumatic whitish stains on the mosaics and the gauze plasters stuck on the “volcanoes” that rise due to the humidity and destroy the texture of the mosaic tiles, and the obscene splashes of pigeon guano that have solidified on the iron framework. Not to mention the sadness of the old sheets spread to protect the precious floors, now so greasy and greasy that they obscure the light… Or the desolation of the peristyle with the colonnade that surrounds the garden with The large fountain with three drained basins rotates between stagnant water sources, carpets of moss on the sidewalks, slimy swamps, weeds sprouting from clogged wells, peeling plexiglass roofs…

A few years ago, 18 million were allocated for the restoration of the majestic residence from the 4th century in the heart of SicilyDiscovered at the end of the 19th century, systematically excavated from 1929, loved by the whole world and protected by UNESCO since 1997 for “the richness and quality of its mosaics in a perfect state of preservation”.

“Perfect”? Let’s hope! So much so that the Archaeological Park has already (on paper) financed another 3,387,949 euros for a good year and a half, but has never seen it (there is no tender yet) for the mosaics alone and another six and a half for the ancient buildings are waiting here and there are rusty and dilapidated. Without a single archaeologist who can have a say. What does a regional councilor for culture like the current one (Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, army marshal, graduate of the hotel management school and convinced that “25% of the world heritage is in Sicily”) do with an archaeologist who is housed in an archaeological site?

But let’s start from the beginning. Better, from the choice made in 1957 by the then highly esteemed architect Franco Minissi “Protect” the large villa with a plexiglass cover. (“It was a modern material, it was cool back then,” sighs the restorer Bruno Zanardi, always sure of the need to “find a way to restore things without adulterating them”) that turned out to be a disaster should. Back in August 1991, Italia Nostra’s complaint to Ansa summed it all up: “The mosaics on the floor of the villa in Piazza Armerina are peeling off in various places due to the excessive heat and humidity” for the roof, which “creates a greenhouse effect “. the day and causes the temperature to rise significantly. The phenomenon is not new, he explains: “The villa has not been restored for years and we are waiting for a monitoring service to be set up…”

Horse camp. From year to year things drag on between criminal distortions such as four consecutive spills of pitch on the mosaics and complaints and investigations and controversies about the pneumatic vacuum of the autonomous region, up to the sensational appeal of the Legambiente in 1998, which always the most active was with Archeomafia dossier, for “a government measure that removes UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites from regional jurisdiction”… An unseemly and endless soap opera. Telenovela, which (after a fresh complaint in 2000 by another city councilor about the urgency of replacing the “Plexiglass roof, unsuitable and now outdated”) only addressed itself in the summer of 2004, when the regional governor Totò Cuffaro commissioned the restoration of the villa, as commissioner, the “most spectacular” of all art experts, the same Vittorio Sgarbi, who, months before, had unrepentantly shown up at the gate late at four in the morning and summoned “the director of the archaeological site, some guards and security officers” to “enforce order” (Ansa). tell you what to do, when and how. Two weeks after the appointment the announcement: “Ten restorers have been on duty since September.” More: “30% of the ticket revenue is used for maintenance.” Wow!

Original goal: to cover the entire set with an impressive, sixty meter high dome. The ambition was then reduced in spatial terms with an “opaque wooden roof, with ventilated air chamber, covered with pre-oxidized copper foil that does not cause a greenhouse effect”, but not in financial terms: 18 million and 300,000 euros. Expected times? “Almost two years.” Hello, the construction site won’t open until February 2007. To be closed in July 2012 without completing the replacement of the plexiglass structures (lack of funds). Eight years after administration. Twenty-one after the dramatic denunciation by Italia Nostra. Is it Sgarbi’s fault? It’s too easy to get involved with him…

Today even more. The fact is that the commitment to “continuous monitoring” and maintenance, supported by “30% of ticket funds”, ends up being forgotten and the newly restored villa is practically left to fend for itself. The maintenance is entrusted to an external cooperative, which sends two willing young people to clean for four hours each from Monday to Friday for 800 euros per month. You are in summer. End. Like the socially useful workers of yesteryear. The only exception was an impromptu investigation offered in 2017 by a private sponsor, the Sicilia Outlet Village, carried out in three months by six restorers who graduated and then were fired: goodbye.

Do you know the almost nine thousand square meters of fantastic mosaics of San Marco in Venice, the majority of which are wall mosaics and therefore require more effort to maintain? You can count on eight permanent mosaic artists. Eight. Who just takes care of it (then there are other maintenance workers) and monitors the walls and floors of the basilica and intervenes day after day because, explains the architect Mario Piana, professor of restoration and proto of the basilica, “if a tile falls. “ happens like when a tooth falls out: those around begin to dance. And every day it gets worse than before». Do these mosaic artists cost money? Yes, but there is no choice, because “the problem of salt crystallization, which occurs in Venice, a coastal city on the water, and peels off the tiles, is much more serious than in Sicily.” In fact, more mosaic artists would be needed.” In any case, costs Including contributions, they all make less than half a million a year “from ticket proceeds”.

According to Ansa, Piazza Armerina was located twenty years ago (the official websites are obscure). 600,000 visitors per year. In 2023 he managed 291,164. The goal. Of these, 84,059 were free guests for a total turnover of 2,053,478 euros. Is it the flights to Catania, Mount Etna occasionally disrupting the airport, precarious public services, large, confused tour operators, Roman politics, a thousand atavistic problems? Whatever you want, but that’s how it is. And the rest of the archaeological park of Enna is even worse, such as the small but amazing museum of Aidone, which houses the goddess Morgantina and the silver coins of the same name, visited by millions of enthusiasts when they were in Los Angeles and New York couldn’t reach 10 paying people a day. And so more or less poignant ruins of Morgantina.

Today’s photos are for Andrea Carandini, who graduated at a very young age with a thesis on Piazza Armerina, “the largest mosaic monument in Italy, which even in Rome has nothing comparable to offer,” “a deep wound. May the world forgive us for this depressing humiliation which embarrasses the Republic in front of the whole world. And so Henri Lavagne, one of the greatest scholars of European mosaics (“There is no point in doing major restoration work and then ignoring it wait for the next one…”) and Salvatore Settis: «Heritage is not maintained through sporadic mega-restorations: You don’t wait until you’re blind to have cataract surgery. The secret to protection lies in daily maintenance. Unfortunately, the complete autonomy of the Sicily region in the management of cultural heritage is a very serious problem…”

Do you know how much the municipality of Piazza Armerina collected as a percentage (15%) for villa tickets in 2023? €310,982. Quite a few, for the community. Who decided to organize Christmas lights, a carnival, a prose exhibition, a stand at the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Malta … And the archaeological park has been in the hands of the director Liborio Calascibetta (who has just retired) in recent years is) and Commissioner Angelo Di Franco? At the end of 2023 there were 1,329,443 euros in the cash register. And in the same budget, the estimated cash fund for 2024 is 2,479,075. They would pay us a lot for permanent mosaic artists on the grounds of “Venetian style.” But why not wait for the region’s coveted money instead? In order to attract visitors, Legambiente accuses them of spending the last three years 720,000 euros for a series of shows at the Bluebeard Festival between the fascinating ruins of the Forum and Theater of Morgantina…