Broken tour

He also sided with Grossman regarding the contested penal code section, which effectively negated the entire AGT Siena suit. But on the matter of "abuse of profession," the appeals judge said that he saw similarities between the activities that Grossman offered on his website and what tour guides do for their livelihood. Though this final point didn't affect the ruling, it failed to close out the debate.

THE VICTORY was bittersweet for Grossman. The conviction damaged his finances and his reputation. Some felt the damage to Grossman was secondary to what the AGT Siena had evidenced by moving against him. While the tour guide issue drove the AGT Siena to act, a wish to maintain the protectionist strength of guilds seemed implicit. "[These kinds of cases] put in doubt ... the principles of freedom of opinion and liberty of expression," said Donvito. "We are in the free market. Free market and competition can coexist only in a free society that respects the rules."

"I have traveled all around the world and I can

guarantee that all the world is like Siena," said journalist Marzotti who covered parts of the Grossman's case for Il Corriere di Siena. "You love your family. You love your house. You love the city where you're from. You cherish the little pieces that are part of your life. If someone comes to invade your life, your family, your house, maybe you would want to protect them too."

Scala Reale director Bennett was blunt. "It's protectionism, and I thought that we learned that protectionism is never a good thing. The Italian people need to think about it from the long view. Forget the tour guides and their own individual needs. [They need to] think about the long view of Italy."

Ceccarelli's view is also sobering. "We are the victims in this, and that is really very sad because I didn't intend to offend anybody," she says. "We feel like in this kind of situation you cannot defend yourself anymore because things around you are more powerful than you." Though her organization lost, she is steadfast that the AGT Siena did nothing wrong. Predictably, she notes the appellate court's comment on Grossman's website offerings, the only part of the sentence that could be interpreted as support for the guides. "The judge has ruled that Mr. Grossman's line of business is no different than that of a tour guide. The ruling of the court seems to show that we acted in good faith."

Grossman, who is now finishing his dissertation in San Francisco, has decided that if he ever lives in Italy again it will not be in Siena. "I learned that what they say about Siena is true," he says. "That it is a medieval city. That the guild mentality survives to this very day."

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