An interesting article in the NY Times about how a town in Puglia got rid of a McDonald's:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/international/europe/12italy.html

You may have to register to read it, but it's free. To express that I think it's important to maintain the culture, would "Penso che sia importante mantenere la cultura" be correct?

Just butting in here to see whether or not I have developed any "instinct" for Italian grammar.

This "instinct" tells me that there should be some contraction of the phrase "che sia importante"....
Or am I way off here?

M

Sono commosso: il congiuntivo sopravvivera'

Ottimo!

Both ways are correct.
Marian is right suggesting that you could even skip the "che"
saying
penso sia importante

But it doesn't sound redundant if said