27/12/2001

The Italian artistic heritage, which alone makes up 70% of the world’s cultural heritage, will be catalogued in a virtual data-base. The announcement was made by the Italian Minister of Culture Giuliano Urbani at the end of November. The opportunities offered by new technologies will enable the creation of a virtual National Archives, that will include the listing of all the Italian artistic assets. Expected costs for this ambitious project are about L. 3,200 billion (€ 1.6 billion, $ 1.4 billion), which will not only be funded by the government, but also by the sale of the data-base to foreign countries, the United States already seem to be interested in the matter. (Annalisa Rossi)