Italian Comedienne May Get Jail For Pope Joke

Sabrina Guzzanti, an Italian comedienne, is facing up to 5 years in jail for saying Pope Benedict XVI would go to hell and be tormented by gay demons. Guzzanti made the comments at a Rome rally in July. The crowd loved it, but not so the Italian officials. She is facing prosecution for "offending the honor of the sacred and inviolable person" of the Pope. The July rally was called to protest against alleged interference by the Vatican and the Catholic Church in Italian affairs, from abortion to gay rights, but also to attack the Prime Minister Berlusconi for passing 'ad personam' laws to protect his own interests and avoid prosecution on corruption. Dario Fo, the Nobel prize-winning playwright, said that applying the outdated law would even have led to the prosecution of Dante, since "he put a Pope in the Inferno as well, namely Boniface VIII". Read the full article here.

Italy's Starving Cultural Institutions

Italian arts institutions are in a pickle and they only have themselves to blame for electing Berlusconi to a third term. (At least us in the US are constitutionally protecting from having Bush serve another term.) Below are some excerpts from a NYTimes article with a link to the full text here.

"Arts institutions across Italy are reeling from a sweeping round of budget cuts adopted this summer by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's four-month-old conservative government. More than $1.3 billion has been slashed from the culture ministry’s budget for the next three years. The cuts have affected hundreds of museums and archaeological sites that depend on state money, as well as opera houses, theaters, filmmakers, libraries, archives and conservators of monuments and artworks; they also threaten the lush countryside, which the Culture Ministry is expected to protect.

Weak economic growth and stricter EU limits on government budget deficits have forced member countries to reduce public arts financing. But critics here grumble of particular shortsightedness in Italy. While the nation touts its cultural heritage as an essential component of national economic growth, critics say the government fails to preserve this precious resource. (“It is our oil,” Sandro Bondi, the culture minister, told the Turin daily La Stampa this week.) Italy’s most recent operating budget allocated just 0.28 percent to the culture ministry."