The Museum of Roman Ships in Fiumicino. To cut the ribbon – just after the government’s decision to allow full capacity in museums, as well as in theaters and cinemas – is
the Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, with Massimo Osanna general director of the Museums for the Mic, the top management of Adr and the mayor Esterino Montino.
“Today is a really nice day, despite the strong wind”, Franceschini observes who then, with a smile, remembers: “Being a minister for a long time gives the satisfaction of seeing concrete results and I have been practically since they were built. these ships … – he jokes – One has been built great scientific and museum work, also thanks to the item ‘major projects for cultural heritage’ included for some years in the budget of the Mic, combining technological innovation and protection of the archaeological, artistic and cultural heritage “.
Thanks to “teamwork, with a multidisciplinary approach and a fundamental research project” as Osanna points out, from next week a museum space will reopen to the public, reachable by bus from the city of Fiumicino and from a shuttle every half hour from the airport, with the support of AdR, the Aeroporti di Roma company which, as the president Claudio De Vincenti and the CEO Marco Troncone affirm, “goes in the direction of a sustainable airport linked to the territory that has a historical vocation and culture as a point of reference”.
Satisfaction also by the mayor of Fiumicino, Esterino Montino, given that “the Museum of Roman Ships was closed in 2001 immediately after the Jubilee – he remembers – which was followed by a phase of fatigue redeemed in recent years by a strong acceleration, with a very important boost from the Mic and the Ostia Antica Archaeological Park , in collaboration with all the institutions and in close relationship with the AdR company “.
I am five boats in cypress wood visible to visitors: three ‘caudicarie’ for the transport of goods, a sailing ship and a fishing boat. A wreck is currently being restored and those who enter the museum, free of charge, will be able to see the restorers at work “, he reports Alessandro D’Alessio, director of the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica.
The path runs on two levels, one at the height of the boats to see the hulls and keels up close and one along an elevated walkway to better admire the external shapes and the internal planking, while the walls are exposed artifacts found between 1958 and 1965 during excavations.
(from the correspondent Enzo Bonaiuto)