Fuortes renounces the superintendency of San Carlo in Naples: “The conditions are not there”

After resigning as CEO of Rai, Carlo Fuortes he will not hold the position of superintendent of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. He announced it himself today with a note, announcing that he is no longer available: “There are no conditions“. The outgoing state television director had only announced his farewell to Rai at the beginning of this week. The situation had unblocked itself after the government had launched a new law to allow Fuortes to be relocated to San Carlo, making the extension of the mandate for superintendents over 70 years of age illegitimate, as is the case of the current superintendent Stéphane Lissner (who, however, told Il Foglio that he wanted to resist and oppose the expulsion to the end).

“The appointment of the superintendent of the San Carlo cannot in any way be distorted, be or appear biased, as instead the city and national news of the last few weeks have unequivocally highlighted. Given this situation, in my opinion, the conditions for fill the role of superintendent of the Teatro San Carlo”, writes Fuortes in the note.

In the document released to the agencies, Fuortes admits how much the assignment was not such a far-fetched hypothesis “It would be an extraordinary pleasure and honor for me to be able to lead the San Carlo in Naples and contribute to enriching the grandiose artistic and musical history of the oldest theater and most beautiful in the world. For almost three hundred years this theater has represented the history of Italian Opera. And its noble tradition has continued up to the current management of Stéphane Lissner”. But as the ex himself explains later to Rai, “a theater like the San Carlo is not just a place of entertainment, art and culture. For the city of Naples, although rich in a vast and invaluable cultural heritage , is perhaps the most symbolic and identifying place. Therefore it should be treated as such: with the attention and respect due to a large public institution. And, consequently, the superintendent who guides it must have broad and shared support from the whole community, which is the real owner of the theater and to which we must answer“. The reference is also to the peculiar governance that governs the San Carlo, in whose foundation the municipality, the Region and some private shareholders express the right to vote. To be appointed superintendent, Fuortes would have had to overcome the resistance that arose in the local administrations themselves.

“In the past I directed and administered various opera houses in Italy – Fuortes then recalls – and I know perfectly how essential it is to have full social legitimacy in order to perform the very complex role of superintendent in the best possible way. The appointment of the superintendent of the San Carlo cannot in any way be distorted, be or appear biased, as the city and national news of the last few weeks have unequivocally highlighted. Given this situation, in my opinion, the conditions to fill the role of superintendent don’t exist.” A definitive step back that closes the Neapolitan game. But he leaves at least one other open, given that the other destination favored by Fuortes, namely the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, hasn’t finished yet.