Opinions - Finestre sull'Arte

The crowds at free museums are not a great achievement, they are worrisome

Yesterday, a few hours after the conclusion of the free Sunday on June 4, for the first time combined with another narrow free admission (the one instituted for Republic Day), Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano triumphantly declared that the Sunday...
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Of the real and reproductions of works of art. What is the point of visiting a museum

Today the public needs clarity more than ever, and the purely inclusive museum must be a benchmark of the real thing. Often shy schoolchildren ask me under the cackles of their classmates whether what they see is original or not. I answer them that t...
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Capodimonte recidivist. On the senseless loan of 70 jewels to the Louvre.

We have already spoken several times on these pages about the extreme nonchalance with which the two main museums in Naples, the MANN and Capodimonte, lend their family jewels, now in an ever-increasing stream. Regarding the National Archae...
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The Uffizi Diffusi in Massa and the future of the Ducal Palace.

For about three years now, the Uffizi Galleries has been promoting the Uffizi Diffusi initiative, whose primary objective is to bring works of the museum to the territory (Tuscan, but not only) mainly through a series of temporary exhibitions in whic...
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Hunting Michelangelo's David: why recent positions on images are anachronistic

While in a small town in Brazil they were finishing pulling up a circa 1:3 scale replica of the Trevi Fountain, in Italy the Court of Florence recognized the existence of a "right to the image of cultural heritage" by letting the Galleria dell'Accade...
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Why do young Italian artists struggle to establish themselves abroad?

How does one build a successful artist's career? And most importantly, why do young Italian artists struggle to establish themselves abroad? It is not easy to give answers, partly because each artistic path is unique, but bringing a few examples may ...
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Why it is unrealistic to propose making museums free by cutting military spending

A great populist classic of cultural heritage: free museums funded by cuts in military spending. The proposal, which is far from new, was reiterated earlier this week by Tomaso Montanari in an interview with Fortune Italia: "A courageous move would b...
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Goodbye to good museum directors? Three topics of discussion on the new call for proposals

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about the language barrier that Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano would like to impose for the call for applications for the competition by which as many as thirteen new directors of autonomous museums w...
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What needs to be done before deciding whether to put a shrine around the Trajan Column

In the margin of thearticle in which I wished to protect Trajan's Column with a shrine I receive letters from some archaeological friends all opposing this hypothesis. I then think it useful to make some clarifications regarding that writing of mine....
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Now that we have let off steam with the Venus, are we ready to receive tourists?

And while everyone was talking about Botticelli's Venus and how wrong, unsuitable, inappropriate, embarrassing, cringeworthy, inappropriate the campaign signed by the Armando Testa studio for the Ministry of Tourism was, the tourist season has begun....
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Banksy in Livorno: yet another commercial exhibition in a city that can and should do better

It is now pleonastic to discuss the usefulness of yet another Banksy exhibition. Those who would like to go to the Museum of the City of Livorno and spend twelve euros to see an exhibition composed of twenty-six multiples of Banksy, more or less the ...
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Here's how culture makes things complicated for tourism (and what to work on to improve it)

Culture and tourism live in osmosis. It is clear that a huge slice of the Italian tourism market draws its lifeblood from the country's cultural heritage, but in turn it brings wealth to individual sites, their territory and cities of art. While in ...
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There are no red lines separating culture and tourism. On the contrary!

The Department of Tourism is among the central administrative structures that has undergone the most extensive changes in the memberships of various ministries. Following the 1993 repeal referendum , the department was abolished and its responsibilit...
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Culture and tourism are disconnected. A change of course is needed on tickets and other issues

On Wednesday, March 1, a post appeared on the Ostia Antica Archaeological Park 's Facebook page announcing that as of the same day, "today, March 1," new fares would go into effect. The increase is by as much as 6 euros, from 12 to 18, justified by t...
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Don't touch Achille Bonito Oliva: he is an artist, and the work of art is his texts

Achille Bonito Oliva is right when, in his "Lecture" published in Robinson last February 18, he asserts with solid conviction that the work of art does not exist as a monad, but as a portion of a system that is completed by the surplus value guarante...
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Old art and new stuff. Young artists could use a more visionary mindset

Unlike in the 1960s/70s, there are not many internationally known and recognized Italian artists. This is not only a phenomenon in the visual arts, but, for example, also in cinema. In fact, Italian cinematography of that same period was considered t...
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