“We are monitoring the entire national museum system, to put all our cultural heritage online and adjust the rates and visiting standards in a coherent and coordinated way. And we are working for a cultural and tourist offer that is not limited only to the traditional stages of what we could continue to define as the Grand Tour“. This is what he says to time.news Massimo Hosannahead of the museum directorate of the ministry of culturerecalling “the presence of many places of extraordinary excellence, distributed throughout Italy but unfortunately still little known”.
Osanna explains in particular: “We are creating a large platform, which creates a unified virtual environment for the entire Italian museum network, with single ticketing and information for all museumsnot only state ones but also regional, municipal, university ones, including those in Sicily which are managed by the Autonomous Region and the diocesan ones attributable to the Church Italian, but with the exclusion of the Vatican Museums because in that case they fall within foreign territory”.
The director recalls that “with the funds of Pnrrnow we will start work on two major axes: energy efficiency of museums and removal of sensory and cognitive barriers, also rethinking the narratives of both museums and archaeological parks, investing in communication: just think of the videos made with drones and the podcast series “.
Returning to the classic destinations of the Grand Tour, the novelty concerns the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and in particular the House of the Vettii: “It remained closed for twenty years – recalls Osanna, after the historic reopening, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano – yet it was the iconic site of Pompeii, perhaps the most visited since it was discovered at the end of the 19th century; a site unfortunately closed and left in a state of absolute decay after the inexplicable halt to the works, despite the fact that financial funds have never been lacking. An absolute example of sloppiness!” accuses Osanna, who for seven years, since 2014, has been director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
“When we arrived, even with the general of the carabinieri Nistri who was the director of the Great Project, we immediately realized that that site had to have absolute priority – he says Hosanna – Unfortunately, not being able to recover the documentation of the previous interventions and in the absence of a static test, we understood that we would not have had time to bring it back into the time schedule of the Great Project, having to deal with the need to ‘reclaim’ and recover the previous , start over with a new project, send it to tender, carry out complex works not only structural but also of pictorial restoration, on frescoes that are among the most relevant of the entire ancient painting”.
According to Osanna, “the final success came thanks to an enormous team effort, which worked in a competent and close-knit way and with an interdisciplinary approach: together with the engineers also the architects, together with the restorers also the archaeologists, together with the geologists also the in all, a team made up of about twenty experts, for the planning phase, before the works were put out to tender. And finally, yesterday the House of the Vettii it was reopened to the public… and I opened a bottle of champagne!”.
After the restoration and reopening to the public, “now it is essential to protect Pompeii – underlines Massimo Osanna – A scheduled maintenance team has finally been created, hiring fifty people including specialized workers and restorers, to which another ten have recently been added, with teams directed by an engineer, an architect and an archaeologist, who operate in a interdisciplinary, monitoring the territory, planning the interventions, inserting all the data in a computerized and digitized archive. Pompeii is a virtuous system,” he assures.
In the past, Pompeii has not failed to arouse criticisms and controversies, including international ones, on surveillance, maintenance, cleaning, hospitality, custody… Criticisms now outdated? “I don’t have to say it – Osanna began – The important thing is that whoever detects it Pompeii he goes there, both professionally and touristically. But the feedback I get is all extremely positive.”
Words of praise come directly from Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano: “It is the recognition of a truly intense work that has been carried out, I believe with professionalism and the ability to govern a team that has formed and reached peaks of excellence, also exporting the Pompeii model to other experiences – comments Osanna – They I really enjoyed your words of appreciation for the work I have done over the years”.
In the project, also the insertion of the route
Appia Antica
with its archaeological park on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. “for theAppia Anticait is essential to enter the list of Unesco heritage sites: it is a beautiful project that the Ministry of Culture has carried out with great professionalism”, underlines Osanna.
“It is a truly important project, which unites a significant piece of our peninsula and of our history: from Rome to Puglia, the road Appia, the ‘queen of the roads’ – he recalls – it was one of the great axes of the Roman road system and continued to be traveled during all the multifaceted historical events, also combining landscapes of enormous importance. I am very optimistic about the acceptance of this proposal by UNESCO, I am positive about the success of the initiative”, assures Massimo Osanna.
(Of Enzo Bonaiuto)