OC Breaks it Down as "Decreto Bondi" Becomes a Law, and the Reform of Italian Opera Houses is on the Way (World Does Not End!)

According to the Secretary of Culture -- and Silvio Berlusconi's right hand man -- Sandro Bondi, the "Decreto Bondi" just approved into law by the Italian Parliament is "indispensable to save italian opera houses from bankruptcy".

According to the unions, the law will murder Italian culture.

Opera Chic took the time to read the (almost 20-page-long) actual document (so that you don't have to -- because frankly, it's not exactly fun and it's in trixsy Italian legalese) and has figured out that:

1) after some tinkering by the Italian President and by Parliament, the law is not as harsh as it was originally stated. 

2) it mostly deals with hiring practices at Italy's Enti Lirici(the foundations that actually run Italy's opera houses), touches the (very Italian, possibly outdated) mechanism of collective bargaining, and requests a renegotiation of old contracts, signed in 2003 by the unions. It also changes the rules to award bonuses to workers.

BUT, and this is a pretty important "but", an actual reform of the opera houses will only come in 18 months -- therefore, we have a year and a half (or more, this being Italy) of more bargaining (and, one fears -- more strikes).

This is not, in fact, a comprehensive reform of the Enti Lirici(the last one was signed in the mid-1990s and nobody likes it anymore, not even the unions).

The new rules extrapolate on a number of provisions:

Bonus package rules have been tightened; government will have more oversight on hiring regulations and the collective bargaining between unions and opera houses; there are new rules for the retirement ages of ballet dancers; comprehensive reform has to happen in 18 months; and there are new self-governance rules for opera houses.

In short, management has right to argue that the new law will make it harder for them to run the opera houses, and yes there will be less money available. But this doesn't appear to be a comprehensive reform that by itself will sink italian opera houses. Of course the Berlusconi government doesn't have any interest in culture or the opera, so this is really not a law that unions might like anyway since it's been written by a government that doesn't exactly -- to put it politely -- have unions in its base.

Comments

[Largo al factotum]

OC, you're an irreplaceable resource. Why major papers haven't scooped you up as their Italian correspondent is beyond my comprehension. I just searched google and you're the only source in english on this whole italian opera situation.

[Rogier]

I'm a novice on this matter, but is it normal for contracts to be left untouched for 20 years? So basically, Italian opera houses have another year and a half of strikes and appeals? It's so chaotic, but if this is the start of reform, so be it.

[Adelle]

I may be a cynic (or just cynical of Italian law), but I really don't think much is going to come out of these new provisions. By the time it goes into effect, all the rules will have been shaved down to obscure clauses.

[El Cajon]

Italian opera is so nero-classic! They (unions, government) keep fiddlin' while Rome burns.

Good report. When is The New Yorker or Vanity Fair gonna' hire O.C.?

[C'est Moi]

Interesting, thanks.

[Vade Mecum]

Here ya go: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/support/broadcast/donors.aspx

The Italian opera house fundraising heads can start at the top of the list and work their way down!

[Waverly]

It sounds like no one can expect change until Berlusconi's term is over. Unless they elect someone who hates culture even more than him.

[virgilio guardepassa]

This is, of course, another plate of Red Herring all' Italiano: nothing can be "reformed" in Italian theaters until the handful of unqualified political hacks who have been moved around from theater to theater as "Artistic Directors" and "Sovrintendenti" for the last twenty years, and their attendant three or four artistic agencies supplying sub-standard "artists" - all playing around with "gifts" and "considerations" flying all over the place are booted out of the scene, and a measure of seriousness returns at the TOP of these theaters. All political parties are to blame here, not just the Right. The fish stinks from the head.

[Lina]

Funny, Virgilio Guardepassa, some of what you say could be applied to the rest of the opera business outside of Italy, especially regarding agencies and casting directors. So many of the same people in the same jobs - or at least playing musical chairs with the top positions - for the past 20 years. Enough already. Things have gotten far too cosy. Connections determine everything.