Turning the Biennale into the BBC

This chapter discusses the fascist statute reform project of the Venice Biennale promoted by the art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti after World War II. A former member of the Partito d’Azione, who then switched to the Socialist Party, Ragghianti was Italy’s most consistent advocate of the arm’s length principle , a keystone of the English Art Councils system. According to that principle, Ragghianti formulated a draft statute modelled on the example of the British Council and the BBC, elevating the Arts Council—whose initiatives he closely observed—to an ideal status for public cultural sector management. His project significantly influenced parliamentary debates in the following decades, ultimately shaping the Venice Biennale reform law, finally enacted in 1973. During this period, the Venetian exhibition emerged as a model for managing Italian cultural institutions, embodying a paradigm for the democratisation of the relationship between art and politics. By investigating this connection, the chapter contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the Biennale’s history in the post-war period, situating it within the broader European landscape.