The closure of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto has been avoided next Sunday, 3 July. The Ministry of Culture gave the ok to use private security guards temporarily to make up for the lack of staff in the Museum. Sunday, therefore, there will be regular opening with free access being the first Sunday of the month, an initiative that applies to all Italian museums. The closure of 3 July was announced by the unions of the workers of the Museum. The latter had highlighted that “in Taranto, with a staff of 85 people, we are 38. As assistants to the surveillance, compared to 42, we are 21. We hope that our protest will accelerate the decisions of the national table. Competitions for new staff have been ongoing for three years. We await new officials and supervisory assistants shortly ”.
The protests and the appeal to Franceschini
The closure for an entire day of the MarTa (one of the most important international references for the history and civilization of Magna Graecia) immediately caused a stir also because the Museum is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. Furthermore, the Sunday stop would have coincided with the arrival in Taranto of over a thousand people for a national sports championship. The mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, immediately moved and addressed the minister Dario Franceschini. “The situation of the MuseoMarTa is unacceptable in a city that has chosen tourism and culture to change its destiny”, highlighted the mayor of Taranto to the Minister of Culture. «The lack of staff – said Melucci – would be such as to prevent Sunday opening, which we cannot afford in the face of a constantly growing number of tourists. I asked the minister – added the mayor – to intervene to unblock bankruptcy procedures that could provide the necessary human resources. Taranto cannot afford to step back of any kind, especially in a sector in which we have placed our hopes for alternative development ». And the ministry’s response came closely. Already to make up for next Sunday.
The call for recruitment dates back to 2019
“Faced with the shortage of staff mainly due to the lack of recruitment related to the 2019 call, the Ministry of Culture has finally consented to the temporary use of private security personnel. In this way we allow the many visitors and tourists, at least on the holidays of the next few weeks, to be able to enjoy the beauties guarded by the MarTa ». This was stated by the deputy of Taranto Gianpaolo Cassese of «Together for the Future». “This solution – added Cassese – is to be considered only temporary to buffer an incredible situation. The priority remains the many workers who must be hired to make the essential openings of the Museum structural on holidays ». For Mario Turco, senator of Taranto and vice president of M5S, “the effects of the urgent solicitation to the Ministry of Culture have become evident. The MarTa next Sunday will be regularly open to the public and will allow the many visitors and tourists to enjoy the beauties it contains, even more so in a weekend in which Taranto will be the protagonist of the Italian Aquathlon championship, which will see people coming from all over Italy ».
From Taranto finds in Paris from 4 July
And with some exhibits, “Le Acrobat” “, the Museum of Taranto will in the meantime be present at the exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, from 4 July to 28 September, inside the prestigious eighteenth-century building de Galliffet in the Saint- Germain of the French capital. The three exhibits, subject to a temporary loan from the MarTa, will be an integral part of the exhibition “Mystères des Poulles entre pierres, terre et mer” (“Mysteries of Puglia between stones, land and sea”), centered on the evolution of cultural environment and architectural landscape of Puglia over the centuries.