The notice to sailors had been in the air since the day the Meloni government took office. The directors of foreign museums, so strongly desired by former Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, will not be renewed. Indeed, at least as long as this executive will remain in his place, to become director of an Italian museum you will have to be Italian.
The confirmation came this morning from the Undersecretary of Culture Vittorio Sgarbi. «How do I judge the foreigners who have been at the helm of the great Italian museums? Now they’re gone. We arrived and they leave. Why do I have to put a foreign director in the Uffizi? Have you ever seen a foreign director in the Louvre? The symbols are the symbols. When Franceschini arrived he thought that it was necessary to put many foreigners, many women. This season is simply over. In Brera what is there will certainly no longer be there. In Florence what is there will no longer be there. In Naples, what is there will no longer be there». Clearer than that.
The announcement last January
However, this is not a news announcement. Sgarbi had already announced this changing of the guard last January: «We want to modify the selection announcement that was published in 2015 – he said – in particular we are thinking of updating the composition of the commissions called to judge the candidates. The one at the time, chaired by Paolo Baratta, was born to respond to the strong idea of the Franceschini reform which aimed to open the doors of the great independent museums to foreign directors. And he succeeded by naming many of them. For the next announcement we will think of commissions whose members are more closely linked to the territory. Let’s think of former superintendents or similar figures who know more closely the needs of the realities for which a director is being sought».
In fact, the tender launched in 2015 resulted in the nomination of seven foreign directors (3 German, 2 Austrian, 1 British and 1 French). And among the Italians there were 4 who returned from experiences abroad (Bagnoli, Gennari Santori and D’Agostino from the United States, Degl’Innocenti from France).
«Italians first», therefore, also in the Culture sector. The goal – already mentioned six months ago by Sgarbi was precisely to arrive by the summer of 2023 – when the terms of the second term of the directors of our autonomous museums expire, in Florence the Uffizi, the Accademia Gallery and the Bargello museums – to choose new ones and above all with new rules. The thing in Florence concerns Eike Schmidt of the Uffizi Galleries, Paola D’Agostino of the Bargello and Cecilie Hollberg for the Accademia Gallery. But also the director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, James Bradburne.
«The influencer Ferragni at the Uffizi has a good idea»
Also today, Sgarbi said that «Ferragni as an influencer for the Uffizi was a good intuition, he belongs to the imagination of the kids, if he suggests a painting it has its effectiveness and I don’t see anything wrong with it».