"The total number of staff is 800, and half that are artists."Roberto Bolle, primo ballerino at La Scala, said Mr Berlusconi should have known better as his son-in-law Maurizio Vanadia, husband of Marina Berlusconi, was formerly a top dancer at La Scala.But politicians and administrators agree that the crisis facing the Italian opera is "desperate," in Mr Buttiglione's words. Mr Berlusconi last week rubbed salt in the wound by claiming the opera's problems were of its own making."One thousand people work at La Scala," he claimed of Italy's best-known opera house, "when 400 would be plenty."La Scala has staggered from one crisis to another since its gala reopening nearly a year ago. Its new superintendent, Frenchman St?ane Lissner, said Mr Berlusconi had got his facts wrong. Mr Tremonti plans to reduce that by €164m a year over the next three years.

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They are already in a condition in which, if in the middle-to-long term they do not restructure themselves, we will arrive at the death of opera in Italy."All the government-supported arts are in crisis as a result of severe cuts mandated by Silvio Berlusconi's Finance Minister, Giulio Tremonti, and last week theatres, cinemas, concert halls and opera houses staged a one-day strike in protest.But the opera, disproportionately dependent on state handouts and with drastically shrinking audiences, is in the most serious difficulty of all.Almost half of Italy's arts budget - €496m (