Italian heritage groups and opposition politicians have criticised the appointment of a former McDonald's executive to run Italy's museums. Mario Resca, 62, who worked as Italy manager for the fast-food chain for 12 years before moving last year to relaunch a state-run casino, has been appointed to squeeze more revenue out of the country's museums, part of a shake-up at the culture ministry. Opposition MP Manuel Ghizzoni said: "What have hamburgers got to do with Italy's extraordinary cultural patrimony?" Antonello Alici, secretary general of the preservation group Italia Nostra, said: "Resca may know how to clean up a balance sheet but knows nothing about culture. I fear our museums will be leaned on to refill state coffers," Resca defended his record, telling La Repubblica newspaper he had known nothing about cheeseburgers either when starting at McDonald's. "We've 4,000 museums, I have been told," he said. "They have exceptional qualities but they are for the large part unexplored." Resca is expected to try to make money from better marketing, just as the government prepares to reduce culture funding by 1bn (850m) over the next three years. He said money could be made from art stashed in the store rooms of Italian museums. Proposing that the pieces be lent out for profitable temporary exhibitions around the world, Resca likened them to "oil reserves that cost nothing". La Repubblica wrote last week that money is so tight new archaeological sites are opened only when holes are dug to create train lines or underground garages.