Putin's friend Valery Gergiev undesirable in Italy

The Royal Summer has been held for nine years in this 18th-century palace, larger than Versailles, intended to be a showcase for the Kingdom of Naples. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Valery Gergiev was to conduct the Giuseppe Verdi Philharmonic of Salerno at the Palace in Caserta, with the guest participation of soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in St. Petersburg.

Until Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Valery Gergiev was one of the most important artists in world music. In addition to directing the Mariinsky Theatre, he was, among other positions, chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. He conducted at La Scala and Bayreuth, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and at festivals in Baden-Baden and Edinburgh. At the end of February 2022, he was scheduled to give a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, but this was canceled following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Valery Gergiev did not condemn the aggression, after all, having called President Putin his friend for years. In 2014, he supported the annexation of Crimea, which sparked protests in Germany at the time, when he began working with the Munich Philharmonic. Two years later, he conducted a concert in Palmyra, Syria, after Russian airstrikes helped liberate the city from Islamists.

In 2022, Igor Navalny presented a film about Valery Gergiev's various business dealings, and international music institutions severed their ties with him. Since then, outside of Russia, he has conducted only in China, Iran, and Oman. The Caserta Festival was supposed to be his first appearance in Western Europe since the Russian invasion.

The announcement of his arrival in Italy sparked a wave of protests. Over 16,000 people signed an online petition demanding the revocation of Valery Gergiev's invitation. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the Russian opposition figure, also protested in the newspaper La Repubblica.

Prominent artists from various countries spoke, including Peter Gelb, director of the New York Metropolitan Theatre, who called Gergiev Russia's de facto Minister of Culture. After 2022, President Putin entrusted him with the leadership of Russia's second most important institution, the Bolshoi Theatre, alongside the Mariinsky Theatre. This was a 70th birthday gift for Gergiev, who is also chairman of the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize and co-chairs the Union of Theatre Workers of Russia (STD).

European Union representatives, including Italian MP and Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno, opposed Gergiev's invitation. The Royal Summer Festival is co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund.

The Campanian authorities, however, found no justification for the protests, explaining that the festival organized in their province was intended to demonstrate openness to cultural dialogue and strengthen human solidarity. Ultimately, however, Campania's president, Vincenzo de Luca, concluded that these numerous protests prompted reflection on the "limits of freedom of speech and propaganda." This decision was supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, which had previously refrained from pressuring local authorities to avoid accusations of cultural censorship.

Maria Zakharova , spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, criticized the concert's cancellation. She expressed regret that the Italian audience would be deprived of the opportunity to experience great Russian music performed by the renowned Russian conductor (the concert program included Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony). She also protested against attempts to discriminate against and culturally exclude Russia. Meanwhile, the Campanian authorities wanted to organize a substitute concert for Valery Gergiev in Salerno, but he severed contact with his Italian agent.