Italy's "Open to Meraviglia" Tourism Video Controversy Sparks Cultural Debate

The Italian tourism ministry recently faced ridicule after releasing an official video to attract tourists to Italy that included footage of people in Slovenia drinking Slovenian wine. This video is part of a €9m ($9.91m) campaign produced by the Armando Testa communications group. The video was widely mocked by critics and on social media even before it emerged that part of it had been shot abroad.

Titled "Open to Meraviglia" (Open to Wonder), the video features a computerized "influencer" version of Venus, a symbol of Italian art, as depicted by Sandro Botticelli in his Renaissance masterpiece, The Birth of Venus. The very modern "Venus" dons a mini-skirt and is shown eating pizza and presenting some of Italy's main tourist attractions, such as the Coliseum in Rome or Florence's cathedral.

The art historian Tomaso Montanari called the advertising campaign "grotesque" and an "obscene" waste of money, while the video was lampooned by users of Italian social media platforms. The most controversial footage shows a group of young people smiling on a sunlit patio drinking wine in what is presented as a typical Italian scene. However, eagle-eyed viewers spotted that the patio in question is actually a few miles over the Italian border in the village of Gorjansko, in Slovenia's Komen municipality. The wine bottle on the table even has a label from a Slovenian vineyard.

The Armando Testa communications group was not immediately available to comment on this controversy. The Italian tourism minister, Daniela Santanche, a member of prime minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party, called critics of the video "snobs" and said the depiction of Venus as an influencer was aimed at attracting young people.

The campaign received criticism from people all over the world. However, we should always look on the bright side. Despite the controversy, "Italia. Open to Meraviglia" managed to spark a cultural debate in just five days, which is a positive outcome. A campaign that manages to break through the wall of indifference and starts such a lively cultural discussion is a success in itself. So, we can say "Grazie" and Armando Testa can thank the critics because nobody was talking about Venus as much as they were after this campaign was released.