Italy

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli fired two of his close collaborators on Monday following a controversy over the funding of a documentary, the latest episode in a ministry rocked by months of resignations and internal political struggles.

According to Italian media, Alessandro Giuli dismissed both Emanuele Merlino, head of the ministry’s technical secretariat, and Elena Proietti, his chief of staff. There was no official statement, but high-ranking government officials later confirmed the information.

Since taking office in 2022 at the head of a right-wing coalition, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has sought to increase her camp’s influence over the country’s main cultural institutions, arguing that they are dominated by the left.

Emanuele Merlino reportedly fell victim to the ministry’s refusal to fund a documentary on Giulio Regeni, an Italian student abducted, tortured, and killed in Cairo in early 2016 – a death blamed on Egyptian security forces by Italy.

Alessandro Giuli called the funding refusal “unacceptable,” stating that he was not informed of this decision.

Elena Proietti’s dismissal was reportedly unrelated, as she failed to show up at the airport for a ministry mission to New York last month.

The Ministry of Culture declined to comment on these cases, as did the two individuals involved.

CULTURAL WARS

Emanuele Merlino and Elena Proietti are key figures of the right, and opposition representatives immediately interpreted their dismissal as a sign of growing internal divisions within Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, fueled by the government’s defeat in the referendum on judicial reform in March.

“This is a sign of a coalition torn apart by internal wars, settling scores, clashes between factions, and rivalries among leaders,” said Sandro Ruotolo, a culture spokesperson for the Democratic Party (center-left).

The Ministry of Culture was already shaken in September 2024 by the resignation of Gennaro Sangiuliano, Alessandro Giuli’s predecessor, due to an adultery scandal, leading to a wave of dismissals and departures.

Outside the ministry walls, controversy always seems nearby.

Last month, the famous La Fenice opera house in Venice sacked its future musical director and conductor, Beatrice Venezi, ending a conflict that had been brewing for months between her, close to Giorgia Meloni, and the institution’s staff.

The Venice Biennale, which opened at the beginning of the month, also found itself embroiled in controversy by allowing Russia to reopen, in a limited way, its pavilion in the gardens of the lagoon city hosting its 61st edition of the contemporary art exhibition, for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This decision, defended by Biennale President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, was strongly criticized by both the Italian government and the European Union.

(By Crispian Balmer, French version by Benoit Van Overstraeten, edited by Bertrand Boucey)