Sicilian town surrenders in celebrity coupAs an image of local Mediterranean democracy in action, it was hard to beat. Under the deep blue sky of late afternoon, and beneath the solemn gaze of 100 or more local citizens packed into a courtyard shaded by lemon trees, the new mayor and the new town council of the little Sicilian town of Salemi had just been sworn in. Squashed into dark suits and ties, the councillors stood up one after another to give speeches of immaculate boredom. Yet the national media had flown down from Rome, not something you would expect at such a parochial event. The reason: the new mayor of Salemi (population: 11,254), is Vittorio Sgarbi: one of the oddest and most colourful figures in contemporary Italy. In turn he has been art critic, TV talk-show host, powerful functionary in the Culture Ministry, leader of his own political party, and culture tsar of Milan. Sgarbi has made personal re-invention his trade mark. This is his strangest incarnation to date.The new mayor has found jobs for some of his famous friends. Pouting quizzically at the crowd at this week's ceremony was Oliviero Toscani, the photographer whose reliably scandalous advertising campaigns for Benetton went round the world. He is Sgarbi's "executive officer for human rights and creativity". In charge of "urbanism and patrimony" is a Sicilian prince. The entourage also includes Graziano Cecchini, a "neo-Futurist" artist who gained fame when he dyed Rome's Trevi Fountain crimson last year; in Salemi, Sgarbi has appointed him assessore al nulla, "executive officer for nothing".
As an image of local Mediterranean democracy in action, it was hard to beat. Under the deep blue sky of late afternoon, and beneath the solemn gaze of 100 or more local citizens packed into a courtyard shaded by lemon trees, the new mayor and the new town council of the little Sicilian town of Salemi had just been sworn in. Squashed into dark suits and ties, the councillors stood up one after another to give speeches of immaculate boredom.
Yet the national media had flown down from Rome, not something you would expect at such a parochial event. The reason: the new mayor of Salemi (population: 11,254), is Vittorio Sgarbi: one of the oddest and most colourful figures in contemporary Italy. In turn he has been art critic, TV talk-show host, powerful functionary in the Culture Ministry, leader of his own political party, and culture tsar of Milan. Sgarbi has made personal re-invention his trade mark. This is his strangest incarnation to date.
The new mayor has found jobs for some of his famous friends. Pouting quizzically at the crowd at this week's ceremony was Oliviero Toscani, the photographer whose reliably scandalous advertising campaigns for Benetton went round the world. He is Sgarbi's "executive officer for human rights and creativity". In charge of "urbanism and patrimony" is a Sicilian prince. The entourage also includes Graziano Cecchini, a "neo-Futurist" artist who gained fame when he dyed Rome's Trevi Fountain crimson last year; in Salemi, Sgarbi has appointed him assessore al nulla, "executive officer for nothing".
