The event is a tribute to the history of the city and the magical moment it is experiencing. For two years all tourist indicators in Naples have been on the rise with record attendance in hotels and B&Bs. Only in the months of July and August of this year was the city a destination for 2 and a half million tourists.
The UNESCO Conference Cultural Heritage of the 21st Century which opened today at Palazzo Reale goes beyond the themes, albeit important, of the valorisation of assets subject to the protection of the United Nations organisation. The 200 delegations arriving from all over the world perceive the political and military concerns in different areas of the world, as well as the direct threats of climate change and often the lack of adequate resources for the protection of heritage.
The objective of the final day of Wednesday 29 November is "the definition of a Charter which will be called 'The spirit of Naples'", said the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. A document in which to address "the relationship between tangible and intangible assets, climate change - a relevant topic because it also negatively impacts cultural assets, monuments, on which we will have to define a common strategy - the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural assets". It should be noted that COP 28 on climate opens the following day in Dubai.
“Culture, rights and freedom” the message of Sergio Mattarella
The setting of Naples as the venue of the Conference, with the Mayor also present Gaetano Manfredi, it was certainly a happy choice. “Few cities in the world better represent the profitable interaction created over the centuries between material and immaterial heritage” wrote in his message the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
“The United Nations agency for education, science and culture – added the Head of State – was born after the war from the need for a vast reconstruction work intended not only as a mere physical restoration of the territory, but also of rediscovered on different and better bases than the relationship itself between human beings".
The world is crossed by conflicts and injustices that obscure those peaceful relationships between human beings. Wars cause victims of all kinds and in maintaining "the peace as a primary objective, a close correlation is drawn between culture, fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual without distinction or discrimination".
During the Conference there will be a focus on the protection and valorisation of the heritage of non-European states, with particular regard to Africa. The final document should contain a list of recommendations and good practices for more effective actions.
Italy commits more economic resources
Regarding more incisive actions towards museums and cultural institutions, Italy should give its best, starting with the city hosting the Conference, "a global cultural capital", said Sangiuliano, but in need of money, supervision, of greater decorum. From North to South the government cannot stop at the Charter which will be signed at the Royal Palace. The sore button they are public resources, the creation of the best conditions for private individuals who have money and the will to participate.
In the PNRR and in the complementary fund for the culture sector there are approximately 5 billion of euros which theoretically should go to the 42 UNESCO sites or even to the 4880 large and small museums registered by Istat. A poor wealth. And it's not an oxymoron.
