A picar in Paris. The improbable new director of the cultural institute (chosen by the government)

Invented artists, destroyed theaters, the ministry chooses to let Antonio Calbi, former director of Inda, tell us his story is always a novel for adventurers

He invented a fake artist (it was him) passing him off as great, he spoiled theatres, hindered shows, quarreled with the world: Italy rewards him. Does Giorgia Meloni know that your government has just chosen this picaro, this Lazzarillo, as director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris? It is the institute led in the past by theater cyclops such as Giorgio Ferrara and Guido Davico Bonino. The selected artist, because in fact he is, is called Antonio Calbi and, on the recommendation of the Foreign Minister, undertakes to promote Italian culture, a culture of adventurers. This nomination had been discussed for months and nominations had been made. Among the names in the running, the journalist Maria Latella, Marco Delogu, director of the Palaexpo in Rome, the costume designer Gianluca Falaschi. In the end, three profiles were selected. One is Calbi, the chosen one, the second was that of Grazia Quaroni, director of the Fondation Cartier, the third was that of the composer Nicola Sani. How we arrived at Calbi is another episode of his amazing work. The authorship is doubtful.