The Goethe-Institut, comparable to our cultural institutes abroad, risks closing other branches in Italy. After having pulled down the shutters in Turin and Genoa – closed by January 2024 -, the historic headquarters in Naples also risks closing. In a moment of crisis, therefore, Germany cuts investments in culture, the sector most easily affected. A decision – the one taken by the Munich headquarters – which cannot leave anyone indifferent. In fact, Luca Crescenzi, president of the Italian Institute of Germanic Studies and Emilia Fiandra, president of the Italian Germanists, are taking to the field to avoid this umpteenth downsizing. «The Italian Institute of Germanic Studies (IISG) and the Italian Association of German Studies (AIG) express deep regret and concern for the closure of the Goethe-Institut of Naples, one of the most recognized and important cultural institutions for the promotion of the language and of German culture in Italy”, the two write in a letter.
«The closure of this office would represent a serious loss for the city of Naples and for the entire south of the Italian peninsula. The Goethe-Institut of Naples has played a vital role in offering high-quality German courses, certification exams and a wide range of cultural events that have enriched the cultural and linguistic life of the community, significantly contributing to the spread of the language German and intercultural relations between Italy and Germany – they add -. Its closure calls into question not only the accessibility of learning German, but also the maintenance of fruitful cultural ties between the two nations. This is also in consideration of the important projects that have taken shape from the collaboration between Italian Germanists and the Goethe Institute of Naples; it is enough here to recall the project about to be launched for the diffusion of the German language in Italian public research bodies which started from collaboration between the Italian Institute of Germanic Studies and the Goethe Institut of Naples and which has come to involve more than a thousand researchers, technologists and administrative operators from Italian research institutions”. «The IISG and the AIG, representing scholars, teachers and enthusiasts of the German language and culture, asks the competent authorities to re-evaluate this decision to ensure the continuity of the promotion of German and German culture to Naples and Italy. In this sense, the IISG declares itself available for any effort and any commitment, including economic, so that the Goethe Institut can remain permanently in an important reality for southern Italy such as that of Naples”, conclude Crescenzi and Fiandra. The decisions of the Goethe-Institut do not only concern Italy, but a global downsizing. The motivation would be to reshape the organization by focusing more on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the South Pacific and the United States.