What the press office of Italy's best 2024 exhibition does. Interview with Marco Ferri

The exhibition on Federico Barocci at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino (Federico Barocci Urbino. The Excitement of Modern Painting, June 20 to October 6, 2024, here our review), curated by Luigi Gallo and Anna Maria Ambrosini Massari with Luca Baroni and Giovanni Russo, was voted by the technical jury of Finestre sull’Arte (composed of more than 100 experts) as the best exhibition of 2024. An exhibition that was a great success both with the public, with more than 80,000 visitors, and with critics: how did this result come about? What actions from the communication and press office point of view? We talked about it with Marco Ferri, head of the press office of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.

FG. Every year in Italy there are many exhibitions of great quality, with different novelties and on which important scholars work, but the exhibition on Federico Barocci in Urbino was particularly rewarded by critics and the public. What were the factors behind the success? And how did it differ from the rest of the offerings?

MF. First of all, the idea: that is, I think the first factor of success was the very idea of an exhibition to rediscover this artist, squeezed between Mannerism and Baroque, and considered perhaps less important than his Urbino predecessors such as Piero della Francesca, Bramante and, of course, Raphael (but this is not the case). The idea of an exhibition to rediscover the great Urbino artist who, instead, dictated the rules of a new way of painting. The idea, by director Luigi Gallo, to dedicate a major exhibition to him: three years of preparation, a huge effort to bring back to Urbino the beauty of so many works on loan, even from 28 museums, including 17 foreign ones. Another factor was definitely the place, that is, the intimate connection between the artist and the site where he also lived (because Federico Barocci resided for some time in the Ducal Palace). The Ducal Palace in Urbino of course is a place of great charm, so organizing such an exciting exhibition in such a fantastic place, a splendid container, in itself is already a reason for its success. And then, of course, the works: the eight sections into which the exhibition was divided housed important works, many of them of large dimensions, capable of creating a pathos, an emotional state to the visitor that perhaps in other places is not perceived. Again, the excellent work of the curators (Luigi Gallo, director of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, and Professor Anna Maria Ambrosini Massari, with the collaboration of Luca Baroni and Giovanni Russo) made it possible to bring this great exhibition to the end. For my part, for communication, I had to think of something that would begin to make people understand the importance of the exhibition that was about to open. Barocci is an important name, but he was not very well known to the general public, so I started from afar: as early as February, art historians wrote (and I circulated) an initial communiqué announcing the exhibition. Eventually there were five communiqués spreading interest before the exhibition opened on June 18. I, through this operation, tried to prepare the ground for the opening of the exhibition: each communiqué had a different theme, so I tried to range between various themes related precisely to Barocci’s painting and the upcoming exhibition. In the end this operation proved us right, because we had more than 410 releases in the media (paper and web in particular), including the attention of all the Italian specialized publications and a good slice of the foreign ones, such as Burlington Magazine and La Tribune de l’Art. So we had a great response both from the public, with more than 80 thousand visitors (I would like to remind you that the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche will exceed 200 thousand visitors, and more than 80 thousand of these visitors visited the Barocci exhibition). A great success with the public, a great success with the critics, accompanied by the production of a catalog of over 400 pages, with beautiful photos and perfectly written cards: it is well known that in the aftermath of the closure of a great exhibition, what remains, that is, the testimony of the great exhibition event, is the catalog, which today bears witness to this exhibition, of which then you too at Finestre Sull’Arte took notice, since it was voted by your technical jury as the most appreciated in Italy in 2024...

So let’s talk about the venue: we said that it was one of the success factors of the exhibition, and that in 2024 the museum will cross the 200,000-visitor mark. The Galleria Nazionale delle Marche however is already a very visited museum in itself, in fact very visited, taking into account the size of Urbino and its geographical location. In your opinion, how much could the fact that the exhibition was held in the Ducal Palace have affected its success? In other words, had it been done in a more peripheral museum would it have achieved the same feedback in your opinion?

The strong link between content and container, that is, between the exhibition and the Ducal Palace, the ancient seat of the duchy of Urbino, in my opinion is the added value of this exhibition. Consider that in some paintings Barocci had even painted the Ducal Palace: more connection than that.... by the way, before collaborating with the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, from 2012 to 2016 I was the press office of the Uffizi Gallery and the then Polo Museale Fiorentino (28 museums): when I saw, during the period in which I played that role, the exhibitions related to the container, so at the Uffizi but also at Palazzo Pitti, at Boboli, obviously the success was greater, and the interest was greater. This is certainly a very important fact, which I think really influenced the success of this exhibition.

Is that of the Barocci exhibition an exportable and replicable model, or did it also work because there was suitable ground here but difficult to cultivate elsewhere?

Well, the strong link between content and container is a replicable and exportable model, so why not? Where there are artists to be rediscovered, and this work of revalorization, or enhancement, takes place in a setting, in a building perhaps, in a building that has a strong connection to the artist, it obviously can’t not work. If, on the other hand, it will be a replicable model for us, we will see very soon, because director Luigi Gallo will continue in this work of “rediscovery” of the art of the Marche, Urbino and Pesaro in particular: next May 22 will see the opening of the Simone Cantarini exhibition, another character who will hit the mark of rediscovery, and it will be another challenge for those who will have to deal with the press office, because they will have to try to show appeal to an artist who is perhaps not as well known as many others.

Speaking of appeal, let’s talk about communication: in addition to the releases you mentioned, what have you come up with to promote the exhibition, both by traditional means and online?

At the level of traditional communication, in addition to the five communiqués sent out before the opening, we did a fairly widespread effort to stimulate the various newspapers, also highlighting the peculiarities of this exhibition. For example, it had been a long time since an exhibition on Barocci had been organized, but then there was also another aspect: Lionello Venturi, the first director of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, at the opening of the museum in 1913, had also promised to organize a major exhibition dedicated to Federico Barocci, but then it was not possible. So there was a 110-year gap to be bridged. In that sense, Director Gallo really closed a circle: we focused, for communication, on these aspects as well. Then slowly the communication, from verbal, paper and digital, began to veer toward video, where the exhibition was taking shape in the last days before the opening: already when the set-up was in an advanced stage we began to make small videos. I myself invited, indeed pushed the director to make a small video in which he invited everyone to the opening last June 18, and that was it. And he had made the invitation by walking among Federico Barocci’s paintings. At the level of online communication, everything was in the hands of architect Stefano Brachetti, the museum’s communications manager who, through social media, through the museum’s newsletter, which is really well done, very well edited, spared no effort to devote to this great exhibition, and even there we saw the response. The result was there and it was very positive.

Beyond the traditional press conference, has the museum organized times for journalists such as ad hoc guided tours, press trips, or anything else?

One of Director Gallo’s prerogatives is that of availability, so during the exhibition there were dozens of guided tours that he did personally, for journalists or even for groups. He has always been very generous in this respect, because obviously taking a guided tour with the curator or one of the curators is a privilege, because he explains the exhibition well, he introduces it to you, and most importantly if you ask questions you have the right person who can give you the right answers. So he never backed down, in fact: I’m talking to you about dozens and dozens of visits. Even RAI, TV crews came several times, even friends from the Louvre, since there were important loans, made a group and came to visit the exhibition, and he was always there and always did the honors by presenting his exhibition. There were no press trips for journalists, perhaps because there was not even time to prepare them properly: let’s also take into account that Urbino is in a place for which it takes a few hours by car to get there from any major city. However, it is part of the things that we will try to fine-tune for the next exhibition.

How much did you spend on communication? And how much did the budget weigh on the museum’s budget?

The exhibition cost 900,000 euros, so compared to the figures I used to hear going around in the days when I was at the Uffizi it is quite low, then about 100,000 euros were spent on posters in the main Italian capitals. No other amount was spent, so it weighed relatively little on the budget. My work was already included, I have an annual contract with the museum.

On the data, beyond the total number of visitors, did you do any studies or otherwise record anything more about the composition of the audience? How many residents, how many tourists, how many young people and so on?

No, no statistical survey has been done on the profiling of visitors to the exhibition. But perhaps in the future it may be that such surveys will be prepared. On Barocci, however, it has not been done.

Exhibition in Urbino, press office in Florence, two historically closely related cities: did it make your job any easier?

No, on the contrary! In Urbino the Medici ... were not really looked upon favorably! Also because part of the Della Rovere heritage ended up in Florence. However, Urbino is a wonderful city, a little gem: what made my job in Urbino easier was, if anything, the experience I gained in five years as press office of the Uffizi and the Polo Museale Fiorentino. Then every museum has its relationships with the territory, which are fundamental, so in the end what counts is the method, and you can take the method everywhere. And then a lot depends on the capabilities of the press office, which can be placed anywhere, in any city, and at the same time be at the highest level: what really counts is the know how, and this comes from experience, sensitivity, and the way of approaching those who are the recipients of communications.

In your opinion, even taking into account how the times and modes of communication are evolving, could a good exhibition be successful without a good press office?

I think not. A good exhibition could not be as successful without a press office, because a press office is not just about writing releases. First of all it also looks for themes, because the general press release, understand the two-three journalistic rules, then everyone is able to write it a little bit: you have to go to the themes, because an exhibition is long and it is not enough just to introduce it at the beginning. The interest in an exhibition has to be kept alive, maybe even delving into certain aspects, a little bit like I did for Barocci: I did it a little bit before the exhibition opened because it was instrumental in getting to know the character, but you also do it during the exhibition, with returns, and the returns have to be intelligent, especially in content, but also in timing. And this a press office needs to be able to do, and do it well. Then the press office is like a spider: it weaves a continuous web, because it has to maintain relations with the paper, with the web, with TV stations, with new forms of communication, with those who do social, with those who do video-information, always unearth the news, because a very good press office I think is first and foremost a journalist who, knowing what on the other side of the fence colleagues expect, prepares it for them, packages it for them and serves it to them on a silver platter. Therefore, the work of a press office is work that many times does not appear: it is obscure, it is not showcased, however, in the end it weighs, it has depth. And then, having the personal relationships with the various colleagues, with the newspapers but especially with the colleagues, means that when you pick up a phone or you send an email or you write a WhatsApp message, on the other side the recipient knows what source it comes from, and if the source is authoritative, credible, honest, accurate, timely, complete, obviously the journalist is happier and you help him in his work. So it’s a very, very important job, and the success of an exhibition I think depends a lot on that as well.

To conclude, is there anything about the Federico Barocci exhibition that you personally like to remember?

The choice of the two curators to start the exhibition’s itinerary with Barocci’s two self-portraits, that is, the one as a young man and the one as an old man-I think it was a winning choice. Entering the exhibition, it was as if a doorbell had been rung and the master of the house had introduced himself, whose hand you shook. It was an impact felt by everyone who visited the exhibition, an impact that made the artist immediately known, and this was really a winning decision, but I think there is nothing particularly art-historical about this choice, however on a human level, on the level of getting closer to a great artist I think it was really important.

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