Venice Art Biennale 2026, Salvini: “Giuli is wrong”

Yesterday the minister Giuli had a conversation with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture of UkraineTetyana Berezhna. Minister Giuli, we read in a note, “reaffirmed the Italian government’s commitment to the protection of Ukrainian cultural identity which has been threatened for over four years due to the Russian invasion and reconfirmed his personal contribution and that of the government in the reconstruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage”. The minister also highlighted that the Biennale Foundation “has taken its decisions in total autonomy from the government and that careful checks are underway on the compatibility of the announced Russian participation with the obligations deriving from the current sanctions regime”.

MiC requested documents on compatibility Russian Pavilion with sanctions

Il Ministry of Culture has asked the La Biennale di Venezia Foundation to provide, with the utmost urgency, elements regarding the participation of the Russian Federation in the 61st International Art Exhibitionwith particular reference to the methods of setting up and managing the Pavilion and their compatibility with the sanctioning regime in force. “In order to clarify the terms of national participation in the 2026 Biennale”, the MiC “requested a full copy of the correspondence between the Foundation and the Russian authorities, aimed at defining the organizational and management structures of the presence of the Russian Federation in Venice”, we read in a statement from the MiC.

The story sparks political debate. The Five Star Movement asked “Giuli to come to Parliament to report on the chaos that has erupted for days around Russia’s participation in the Venice Biennale – says the M5S group leader in the Senate, Luca Pirondini – What is taking place is an unseemly ideological clash within the right on the skin of one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. The news in recent hours speak of checks, investigations and requests for documents from the Foundation, but also of a conversation between Giuli and the Ukrainian culture minister: these are just some of the aspects on which Giuli has the duty to inform Parliament. We continue to think that the path indicated by President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco with the Truce Biennial is the right one: use culture as a space for dialogue, not as a political weapon. For the M5S the principle remains simple: art cannot be censored. We will also ask for Buttafuoco’s hearingto listen directly to his version of what is happening these days and understand how to defend the autonomy and international prestige of the Biennale”.