With the deadline for completing the renovation of La Scala's historic opera
house a mere 23 months hence and unexpected technical problems hindering
construction, the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala
is moving to extend the scope of its activities, pursuing ambitious plans for
a "Greater Scala" — a multi-theater system with satellites in the hinterland
of Milan, such as the Teatro degli Arcimboldi (right, currently La Scala's
temporary home) and a rehearsal center at Ansaldo Workshops, a former steel
plant.
It is an odd time to propose an expansion, with budget deficits at the major opera houses and shrinking public funding for culture in Italy. And indeed, the motives behind the project may not be purely artistic. Local observers believe that La Scala is collaborating with real estate developers who seek to enrich themselves at the ultimate expense of taxpayers.
La Scala's newest would-be auxilary venue is a new high-tech auditorium seating 820 that was inaugurated on 23 December at Lodi, 38 kilometers southeast of downtown Milan, by violinist Salvatore Accardo. The architect was Renzo Piano (the creator of Rome's new concert hall), who originally designed it in 1991 as a meeting place for the stockholders of Banca Popolare di Lodi (BPL), Italy's oldest mutual banking group. BPL's young CEO, Gianpiero Fiorani (generally referred to as "Berlusconi's banker") has climbed since the mid 1990s into the top rank of Italian business, thanks in part to his generous contributions to the Catholic Church and the resulting support of Italian bishops. Fiorani is turning a former dairy megaplant at Lodi (Polenghi Lombardo) into a modern suburban district, featuring commercial centers, luxurious housing facilities and office buildings, much as Marco Tronchetti Provera, his friend and colleague at the Pirelli Group, has done on a larger scale with the unused industrial area at La Bicocca, the location of Teatro Arcimboldi. It is rumored that La Scala musical director Riccardo Muti will occasionally perform at Lodi for chamber concerts and minor operas, while the artistic direction of the auditorium may be entrusted to some sophisticated pop icon, such as the Italian star Mina or Barbra Streisand.
Tronchetti Provera's and Fiorani's long-standing connections with the ruling Forza Italia party have already yielded their companies substantial tax reductions and allowed them to bypass Italy's laws on city planning and the European Union's strict antitrust regulations, according to observers. The moguls are now reportedly negotiating their final masterpiece: handing their costly showpieces of modern theatrical architecture over to the city, which would pay for up to 80 percent of each building's management costs and a substantial share of programming through Fondazione La Scala. Tronchetti Provera and Fiorani, meanwhile, would reap big profits from the ensuing appreciation of land values in the surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, the budget at the "Old Scala" worksite is skyrocketing beyond the initial estimate of 50–56 million euros. By early December 2002, a figure closer to 108 million was being discussed. On 29 December, the Milan city council allocated an additional 2.5 million euros, most of which is for the purpose of hiring six renowned experts to check the work in progress. Among them, per Muti's express demand, is acoustics wizard Higini Arau, who helped to design several important venues in Barcelona, including the freshly rebuilt Gran Teatre del Liceu. In addition, worksite director Antonio Acerbo recently announced the recovery of original 18th century plasterwork, a "pleasant surprise" that will lead to higher costs.
But officials remain confident. On 9 December, Giuliano Urbani, the national
minister for cultural heritage, declared that "there are no funding problems for La
Scala's restorations"; ten days later, Milan's deputy mayor Riccardo De Corato
announced that final blueprints for the project will be approved — as
recently ordered by
Lombardy's Regional Administrative Court — by Milan's city council in
April 2003. De Corato also seems highly confident about keeping to deadlines: in
late October, he launched a 184,000 euro Web site (www.cantierescala.it) to show the world how things are progressing at the worksite in (almost)
real time.
