AIW, the Italian Wilderness Association, confers its honorary presidency on Vittorio Sgarbi who takes over from Carlo Ripa di Meana.
After three years of honorary presidency conferred to the honorable Carlo Ripa di Meana for his merits in the fight in defense of the Italian landscape, in a planned rotation, the Board of Directors of the Italian Association for Wilderness has approved a handover to Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi; a step in agreement with the two well-known personalities of Italian "political" environmentalism (perhaps the only ones in that world who have sided with the environment free from personal, economic or party interests: a real rarity in our country !). This also in consideration of the fact that with sincere participatory altruism Carlo Ripa di Meana, still engaged in Italia Nostra, from the beginning made himself available for a possible step back if the situations had made it appropriate and perhaps even necessary, precisely with collaborative intent in the face of Sgarbi's activism and presence that will best be able to carry on and defend the fantastic and modern Idea of Wilderness Areas as a form of concrete defense of the landscape for some of the wildest areas of our country, especially in opposition to the recent new government commitment to renew the notorious "incentives" for wind and photovoltaics.
Also for the aforementioned reasons, it is not by chance that the person of Vittorio Sgarbi was thought of for the alternation as for Carlo Ripa di Meana the motivation for the choice is a form of thanks for their strong and long-standing commitment against the unfortunate program of the so-called “ecological” renewable sources envisaged, authorized and financed by various governments and by many (practically all!) political forces; that is, a commitment to the defense of the Italian landscape and beauty in general and a fight against wind farms which in more than one case both have done and continue to do in close collaboration. So a valid passing of the baton amply justified by shared interests for a battle whose forces of physical activism need to join the intellectual ones.
Perhaps someone will say that Vittorio Sgarbi has never been a frequenter of natural and wild spaces, but it is certain that his appreciation for their beauty, if only as enjoyable scenarios from the streets and villages that surround or dominate them, is indisputable. Probably, therefore, he will never be with us walking on the paths that cross them, but he will certainly always be with us in the battles to defend them and guarantee living spaces for fauna and flora and the human spirit!
The official announcement was made during a meeting held last June 10 in Rome, at the Coffe House in Palazzo Colonna, where, organized by Donna Virginia Massimo Lancellotti, the 30 years of the Italian Association for Wilderness were commemorated and where Vittorio Sgarbi was able to express his full agreement with the difficult line against the current up to now pursued by the AIW in the defense of the landscape and the environment but with respect for the rural world and its rights, with a vision shared by him in line with the aims of the AIW.
Frank Zunino
Secretary General of the Italian Wilderness Association
(June 21, 2015)