It’s been a bit of a rough ride for Alitalia, the Italian national airline which teeters from insolvency to insolvency as it somehow tries to keep afloat.
As part of its ongoing financial restructuring, the embattled flag-carrier will sell much of its private art collection in a move that regulators hope will raise millions.
Indeed, on Dec. 8th, Italian auction house Finarte will sell of some 200 lots of works owned by Alitalia.
There is certain to be a lot on offer, though the highlight of the auction is a vast canvas, “Zeus gave birth to the sun”, by the Futurist Gino Severini, commissioned for Alitalia’s Paris office in 1954 and now estimated at €300,000- €500,000. Other works are in the low thousands, among them Osvaldo Peruzzi’s “Flight above the clouds” (1997) estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
Although the event won’t rescue Alitalia over the long-term, it’s a wise buzz-building maneuver and could certainly be lots of fun.