Ricardo Franco Levi today reversed and renewed the invitation to Carlo Rovelli to participate in the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2024, after the controversy that arose following yesterday's letter with which Levi had stopped the participation of the physicist.

"I renew the invitation to Professor Carlo Rovelli to share with all of us the beauty of research and the value of knowledge", Levi announces today, adding: "I welcome with satisfaction the statements of government representatives who confirm the desire to guarantee open participation in the Frankfurt Fair, respecting the principle and the defense of pluralism of thought and ideas".

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Carlo Rovelli

The letter with which Levi asked Rovelli to take a step back was made public yesterday by Rovelli himself. "Italy asked me to represent it at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair, but because I dared to criticize the Minister of Defense, my speech was canceled."

In the letter, Levi, who is also president of the Italian Publishers Association, stressed that after the speech at the May Day Concert in Rome in which the physicist had spoken of a possible escalation in the war in Ukraine by attacking, without naming him, the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, his participation in Frankfurt would have "revived controversies and attacks".

Immediate raising of shields in defense of the physical, the full solidarity of the world of culture, the request for a rethink and the opposition to censorship expressed by many intellectuals and members of the government, starting from the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano. "In general, having been censored, I am against inflicting it on others. Maybe to that of Professor Rovelli I would add some other voices, that of Pierangelo Buttafuoco, Francesco Borgonovo, Marcello Veneziani or others in homage to pluralism", underlined the minister.

No discounts even from the opposition, from Pd, M5S and Avs there is a cry of censorship. From Avs Nicola Fratoianni thunders: "How can you define a country that excludes and punishes an intellectual because he has expressed his ideas?". "What do we do?", asks the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte, "we select our intellectuals so as to be sure not to offend government representatives? What a shame." Several members of the Democratic Party say "no to censorship", and the Adelphi and Feltrinelli publishing houses also join the protest with official notes.

Crosetto intervened with a long note to emphasize that he had nothing to do with what happened: "I am the first to hope for a rethinking of the decision taken", explains Crosetto, who adds: "I am sorry to disappoint the experts of Italian conspiracies, always on duty, who already speak of 'censorship' or pressure. I do not know Dr Levi, a very worthy person, except for having been the undersecretary of the Prodi government. I have never heard him in my life, neither on this nor on other occasions, I am sorry that he decided to change speaker and I am absolutely certain that no member of the Italian Government or institutions has put any pressure ".

Levi: no pressure on me

The extraordinary commissioner of Italy guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2024 and president of the IEA, explained in a note that "following the debate that has developed at the end of my decisions on how to participate in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2024, I confirm that I have expressed my choices as extraordinary commissioner, without having received any pressure or solicitation and to rigorously fulfill the institutional responsibility that was conferred on me by a decree of the President of the Republic. I am sensitive and I welcome with satisfaction the statements of government representatives confirming the desire to guarantee open participation in the Frankfurt Fair, respecting the principle and the defense of pluralism of thought and ideas".

"I also appreciated the understanding expressed by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) for the reasons of institutional prudence that had led me to the choices expressed as commissioner. Together we shared and reaffirmed our commitment to the defence of freedom of thought and expression. I have therefore accepted the hope of the IEA that the presence of Professor Carlo Rovelli in Frankfurt can be confirmed. In light of all this and in response to the many voices that have been raised from the world of culture, I renew the invitation to Professor Carlo Rovelli to participate in the inauguration ceremony of Frankfurt 2024, to share with all of us the beauty of research and the value of knowledge", concludes Levi.