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OPERA

Rome Opera signs deal to save musicians’ jobs

Rome's debt-ridden Opera said on Tuesday it had saved the jobs of its choristers and musicians by signing a deal with trade unions which includes pay cuts and a pledge to end strikes.

Rome Opera signs deal to save musicians' jobs
A 2012 dress rehearsal at the Opera Theatre in Rome. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

The deal, signed overnight, aims to save €3.0 million a year by cutting overtime pay and bonuses and boosting productivity, and includes a promise by unions not to strike over issues linked to the deal.

"This is a victory for the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma," the opera's superintendent, Carlo Fuortes, said in a statement, praising the seven unions representing the musicians and staff for "shouldering responsibility".

The opera house, housed in a 19th-century building in the centre of the Italian capital, had vastly expanded its international reach over the last decade or so.

But it was plagued by bad management and debt, which led to mass ticket cancellations this year, putting its very future at risk.

The Opera's management presented a plan in July to save the company, which was approved in September by some 460 employees.

But after a few tense months during which two of the smaller unions continued to threaten to strike, primary conductor Riccardo Muti threw in the towel, saying that after six years in the job there was no longer the "necessary serenity" to lead successful productions.

The management announced in October that 182 choristers and musicians would be fired and hired back as freelancers during the opera season, a threat which forced the unions back to the negotiating table.

Rome's mayor Ignazio Marino welcomed the new deal and said he hoped that "in time", 73-year-old Muti could be persuaded to return.

In the meantime, Verdi's Aida, which the Neapolitan native was set to conduct to open the season on November 27th has been cancelled and replaced with Dvorak's Rusalka, conducted by Norway's Eivind Gullberg Jensen.

READ MORE: Muti quits Rome opera amid funding issues

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PROTESTS

Thousands protest in Rome against fascist groups after green pass riots

An estimated 200,000 people descended on Rome on Saturday to call for a ban on fascist-inspired groups, after protests over Italy's health pass system last weekend degenerated into riots.

A general view shows people attending an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome
People attend an anti-fascist rally called by Italian Labour unions CGIL, CISL and UIL at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neofascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9th during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

Analysis: What’s behind Italy’s anti-vax protests and neo-fascist violence?

A man holds a placard reading "yes to the vaccine" during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome

A man holds a placard reading “yes to the vaccine” during an anti-fascist rally at Piazza San Giovanni in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL secretary general Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

IN PICTURES: Demonstrators and far right clash with police in Rome after green pass protest

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome

Workers from the Italian Labour Union (UIL) react during an anti-fascist rally in Rome on October 16th, 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16th, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on

General Secretary of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), Maurizio Landini (C) delivers a speech as Italian priest Don Luigi Ciotti (R) looks on during the anti-fascist rally in Rome. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

“Neofascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: we need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

READ ALSO: Covid green pass: How are people in Italy reacting to the new law for workplaces?

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has led the calls for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

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