COLOSSEUM SPONSORSHIP DEAL AT LAST HURDLE

Colosseum sponsorship deal at last hurdle

Final appeal due in May

By Ermanno Rivetti. Web only

Published online: 24 April 2012

Italian officials have approved a proposed €25m donation for the restoration of the Colosseum given by Diego Della Valle, the owner of the shoe and leather goods company Tod’s. The competition committee has also described the deal as transparent.

Della Valle first agreed to the arrangement, which included five years of rights to the building's image, with the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, in January 2011. The national heritage organisation Uil Beni Culturali appealed against the deal in March that year. In October, the consumers association Codacons appealed to the regional administrative court, claiming a breach of competition regulation at the expense of Ryanair and Fimit, the two other competitors in the bid for sponsorship.

The court froze the agreement between Della Valle and Alemanno this January. A few days later, however, Uil’s appeal was withdrawn and the deal now appears to be getting back on track.

The final hearing is scheduled for 9 May, when the regional administrative court is due to consider the Codacon appeal.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Colosseum-sponsorship-deal-at-last-hurdle/26310