Italy’s museum czar: Culture can save the economy

ROME — One of Italy’s top culture officials has pushed the country’s museums and galleries as a way to pull the country out of its recession.

Mario Resca, a former McDonald’s Italia executive and Italy’s museum czar, says Premier Mario Monti is “making a mistake” by not pushing for tax breaks to encourage private investment in Italy’s museums, monuments and archaeological sites.

Resca told a small group of foreign correspondents in Rome Wednesday that encouraging consumers to buy “cars and refrigerators” in the hope of boosting the domestic production won’t make Italy the world leader in manufacturing. But, boasting that Italian museum ticket sales have steadily climbed since 2009, Resca says Italy can lead the world in lucrative culture-based tourism.