School Ship Vespucci promotes Italian museums: culture tour starts from Reggio Calabria

The national project The Vespucci Meets Culture, promoted by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with Difesa Servizi S.p.A., an in-house company of the Ministry of Defense, was presented on Monday in Reggio Calabria, on the occasion of the Reggio Calabria stop of the Mediterranean Vespucci Tour - Village IN Italy. The National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria (MArRC) was the setting for the official inauguration of the initiative, which aims to enhance Italy’s cultural heritage in synergy with the stages of the Amerigo Vespucci training ship.

The event represents the first concrete step in the agreement signed between the Ministry of Culture and 12 other ministries in support of the Vespucci’s World Tour and Mediterranean Tour, strongly desired by Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and promoted by the Defense through Difesa Servizi S.p.A. At the heart of this protocol is the promotion of Italian cultural excellence in the places touched by the Navy ship, offering the public facilitated access to national museums during the days the sailing ship stops over.

During the opening ceremony of the three-day event in Reggio Calabria, hosted inside the IN Italia Village set up for the occasion, the director of the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, Fabrizio Sudano, representing the Ministry of Culture - Directorate General for Museums, joined the CEO of Difesa Servizi S.p.A., Luca Andreoli, in presenting the memorandum of understanding. Both highlighted the strategic value of the project, which unites the worlds of culture and defense in a shared operation to promote the national historical and artistic heritage.

The Vespucci meets culture provides, for each of the Italian cities touched by the Vespucci’s tour, a special reduction on the entrance fee to museums and places of culture participating in the initiative. The discount will be valid exclusively on the days the ship is in each stop and will be regulated through the digital platform www.tourvespucci.it, where users will be able to make a reservation and receive a certificate to present directly at the ticket office to obtain the discounted admission.

The National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, among the most representative in southern Italy, was the first to give concrete implementation to the protocol, opening its doors to visitors with reduced tickets on the days the Vespucci will be stationed in the Reggio Calabria port, May 5-7, 2025. But Reggio Calabria represents only the starting point of a journey that will take the Vespucci to other Italian cities, each of which will see the “Vespucci meets culture” project activated through the facilitated opening of state museums and cultural institutes. The stages already planned cover a wide geographical span, involving several regional museum directorates.

From May 13 to 16, 2025, it will be the turn of Naples, where visitors will be able to access the Park of the Tombs of Virgil and Leopardi-part of the Campania National Museums Regional Directorate-as well as Villa Pignatelli and the Duca di Martina Ceramics Museum in Villa Floridiana (the latter part of the Vomero National Museums) with reduced admission. The next stop will be Gaeta, May 24-27, with four institutes of the Lazio National Museums Regional Directorate joining: the Archaeological Park of the Villa of Tiberius and the National Archaeological Museum of Sperlonga, the National Archaeological Museum of Formia, the Archaeological Park of Minturnae and the Royal Ferdinand Bridge.

The trip will continue in Civitavecchia, from May 28 to June 3, starring the city’s National Archaeological Museum, also under the Lazio National Museums Regional Directorate. Finally, from June 10 to June 13, Genoa will welcome the Vespucci ship and, with it, visitors who will be able to take advantage of subsidized admission at two symbolic places of Ligurian culture: Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Spinola, both included in the National Museums of Genoa circuit.

The project is part of a broader strategy of enhancing the national museum system, which through inter-ministerial collaboration and synergy with events of international media reach, such as the tour of the Nave Vespucci, aims to make places of culture more accessible and visible. The Memorandum of Understanding signed by Professor Massimo Osanna, Director General of Museums for the Ministry of Culture, and Dr. Luca Andreoli for Difesa Servizi S.p.A., testifies to this joint desire to invest in initiatives that speak to the general public.

“The School Ship Amerigo Vespucci is a unique icon in the world, an undisputed protagonist of naval culture and a vehicle for the international promotion of Italian heritage,” said Director General Museums Massimo Osanna. "The national project, The Vespucci Meets Culture, is the result of a productive dialogue between the Directorate General for Museums and Difesa Servizi S.p.A., with a view to networking the National Museum System and the shared enhancement of all the resources that represent the identity of a territory."

"We are very happy to now be able to announce together with the Ministry of Culture right here in Reggio Calabria, one of the most important stops, the Il Vespucci incontra formula that will allow people to visit some of the most important museums in the cities hosting the stops of the Mediterranean Tour,“ says Luca Andreoli, CEO of Difesa Servizi, ”with a concessionary ticket. We start with The Vespucci meets the Riace Bronzes, and we are thrilled to debut with such an extraordinary Italian excellence as the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria."

“This initiative represents a virtuous example of collaboration between institutions for the dissemination of knowledge of our cultural heritage,” said MArRC Director Fabrizio Sudanoi, “bringing Italian art and history to the center of a shared narrative with citizens and tourists, who on this stage were able to admire the Riace Bronzes and the treasures of Magna Graecia.”

School Ship Vespucci promotes Italian museums: culture tour starts from Reggio Calabria

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