ROME—In its latest controversial move, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government has appointed the former manager of McDonald's Italy as the new general director of Italian museums and their development.

Mario Resca, 62, ran McDonald's Italy for 12 years and is currently the director of the large, state-run Casinò di Campione. In an interview with La Repubblica on the occasion of his new appointment, Resca likened the Italian cultural heritage to "oil reserves that cost nothing."

"We must use the resource of our cultural heritage to generate earnings," he said.

Asked whether he had ever before focused on cultural matters, Resca answered that he hadn't, but that it doesn't matter. "I didn't know anything about the restaurant industry, and for 12 years I directed McDonald's Italy. I didn't know anything about gambling and now I direct the Casinò di Campione," he said.

He added that his job was to increase cultural tourism in Italy and "to work on the [country's] image, do marketing, [and] circulate our artworks around the world."

Italian heritage groups and opposition politicians have decried the appointment, according to the Guardian.