Closed for eviction the Diocesan Museum of Naples: the incredible affair is unfolding these days in the Campania capital around the Donnaregina Nuova church, where the institute is located, which belongs to the Ministry of the Interior, has just been evicted under a prefect’s order and will return to its worship functions. A Baroque jewel, the Donnaregina Nuova church houses the museum’s itinerary dedicated to the seventeenth century and temporary exhibitions (an exhibition on Neapolitan seventeenth-century masterpieces by the De Vito Foundation is currently underway until the end of the month), and as of today it is no longer open to visitors: visitors to the complex must make do with the Donnaregina Vecchia church, which houses the first part of the exhibition itinerary.
It is not just a matter of preventing visitors from seeing a museum in its entirety: in fact, the Diocesan Museum employs 50 people, who now risk their jobs. The eviction was carried out last May 22, in execution of an order issued by the prefect, Michele Di Bari. The museum had been based in the church since 2007, when the then Archbishop of Naples, Crescenzio Sepe, took steps to have Donnaregina Nuova house part of the Diocese’s collections. The Curia, in turn, had appointed an agency, Cosmo Italy, to manage the museum, through an agreement expiring in 2027. The Ministry of the Interior, through the Worship Buildings Fund, therefore granted the museum the building in concession: the contract (which was for just 247 euros a month) expired last year, however, in March, and was not renewed, so the church will revert to the Ministry of the Interior. But with no solution yet found for the museum.
In these hours we are at the back and forth of accusations. The museum workers point the finger at the Curia, responsible in their view for not wanting to renew the contract. The Curia, however, rejects the charges, noting that it was the Ministry’s choice to reallocate the church for worship, and pointing out that it has insisted with the manager, since March 2024 (when the concession expires), “to discontinue the exercise of museum activities within the Donnaregina complex by having to provide, by request of the Ministry of the Interior, the redelivery of the property, the existing lease having ceased.” However, “such solicitations have not been taken up in any way,” according to the Curia.
Cosmo Italy, however, does not stand for it (and in the meantime has already appealed to the Campania Regional Administrative Court against the return of the property). Cosmo Italy’s CEO, Elio De Rosa, speaking to Corriere del Mezzogiorno, admitted that the contract has expired, but disputed the Curia’s decision not to renew it “despite the availability of the prefecture.” According to De Rosa, the Curia’s position stems from the desire to “kick out of the venue the managers who have been operating and employing dozens of people for years and who from scratch have built one of the most prestigious cultural garrisons in southern Italy. In recent years it has hosted the works of the greatest masters of art history, from Leonardo to Michelangelo, Bruegel to Antonello da Messina and Caravaggio.” In addition, De Rosa pointed out that “thanks to the work done so far, the Curia has been able to enjoy royalties on tickets, in the face of no cooperation, which in recent months has even become an obstacle.”
The Curia’s project, according to Elio De Rosa, would be to radically rethink the museological model of the Diocesan Museum of Naples: no longer a location in a single complex, that of Donnaregina, but a diffuse museum. A project that, we read in the Corriere del Mezzogiorno, would be elaborated by the museum’s director himself, Don Antonio Loffredo, himself vice president of the Fondazione Napoli C’entro: the idea would be to involve associations, cooperatives and realities that have already worked with Loffredo.
In the middle, as anticipated, are the workers, who depend on Cosmo Italy, and fear that any future reorganization of the museum would mean the end of their work experience for them. The curia, however, let it be known to the daily Il Mattino that the museum will not close, and that there will, however, be “a process of reorganization that has the sole objective of enhancing the ecclesiastical heritage of the city, strengthening its cultural, educational and pastoral function in the wake of its mission.” The curia declares itself “open to constructive dialogue with all institutions and the world of culture, while respecting each other’s prerogatives and its own mission, which is to preserve, enhance and make accessible the spiritual and cultural heritage.”
At the moment, however, the only thing that is certain is that one museum is closed and dozens of workers do not know what will become of their future: if reorganization it will be, it certainly cannot be said to have been handled in the best possible way.
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| Naples, forced to evict Diocesan Museum: here's why |
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