As of: January 31, 2024, 8:57 a.m
By: Kilian Bäuml
Comments
Press
Split
The controversial comparison by a German museum director is causing a lot of trouble in Italy.
It should actually be about mass tourism.
Florence – Florence, one of Italy's cultural cities, attracts around five million tourists every year.
Cecilie Hollberg, the German director of the Galleria dell'Accademia Museum in Florence, sees this as a problem.
She draws a provocative comparison to the topic of prostitution and receives a wave of criticism for it.
Florence and mass tourism: German museum director with controversial comparison
The museum director criticizes mass tourism in Florence: “Once a city has become a prostitute, it is difficult for it to become a virgin again.
If the absolute brakes are not pulled now, there is no hope left.” After all, the whole of Italy experiences a rush of holidaymakers in the summer, and some even fear a tourist collapse.
But the museum director's controversial statement is met with incomprehension by many Italians and triggers a broad response.
Cecilie Hollberg
Since 2015, the historian Cecilie Hollberg has headed the Galleria dell'Accademia Museum in Florence, whose most famous exhibit is Michelangelo's David statue.
Before working in Florence, the 57-year-old worked in Dresden, Hanover and Braunschweig, among others.
German museum director triggers a wave of criticism in Italy
Gennaro Sangiuliano, the Italian government's culture minister, sees Hollberg's comments as an "insult to all of Italy."
There were similarly strong reactions to a German tourist who wanted to take a photo with the Neptune Fountain in Florence.
Matteo Renzi, the former Italian Prime Minister and former mayor of Florence, even brought up Hollberg's possible resignation.
The deputy mayor of Florence, Alessia Bettini, even went one better.
If Florence is a prostitute, the question arises as to whether the city's residents are "children of a prostitute" and tourists are "customers of a prostitute."
However, the German historian later apologized and emphasized that she loved Florence and had simply phrased her statement in an unfortunate manner.
In an interview with the broadcaster Rai, she said: “I have no desire to offend anyone – and certainly not the Florentines.”
My news
Stone avalanche thunders onto the Brenner motorway in South Tyrol - several cars hit
Student gets stuck because of a 5 in math – and goes to court
Storm in Greece destroys world-famous shipwreck - entire beach is in danger of disappearing
Block handling in Kufstein cleans up Tyrolean air - controversy over Bavarian slot idea is inevitable read
Animal in Italy pursues: Wolf comes dangerously close to mother with stroller
“Never again on the beach”: Fischer draws “worst nightmare” from reading the sand
Cecilie Hollberg directs the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, whose most famous work is the statue of David.
© Sergio Garbari/dpa
Hollberg sharply criticizes mass tourism in Florence
With her controversial statements, Hollberg wanted to point out the responsible approach to mass tourism in Italy.
After all, Italy is at the top of the ranking of the most crowded holiday destinations.
Heavy tourism was also the main topic of the press conference in which she made her controversial comparison.
She said, among other things: “Florence is very beautiful.
I would like it to go back to its residents and not be crushed by tourism.”
Almost 400,000 people live in Florence, while around 5 million tourists visit the city every year.
This means that there are more than ten times as many holidaymakers as residents in the city every year.
The high number of visitors also results in exorbitant prices in Italian cities.
However, Florence is far from the only Italian city struggling with the high volume of visitors.
In Venice, entry is therefore even charged for day tourists.
(kiba/dpa)
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
Find out more about our AI principles here.