100 works from big museums' storerooms return to their territories: new MiC project

On Saturday, Dec. 11, the Ministry of Culture launched a new project to take art out of large centers: it is Cento opere tornano a casa, an initiative thanks to which one hundred works kept in the deposits of fourteen of the most important museums inItaly (the first ten involved in the project are the Uffizi, the Royal Museums of Turin, the Borghese Gallery of Rome, the Barberini Corsini National Galleries of Rome, the Pinacoteca di Brera, the National Roman Museum, the Castle of Racconigi, the Archaeological Park of Ostia, the National Museum of Capodimonte, and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples), return to the territories of origin, for which they were conceived, and where they will therefore regain visibility. The initiative is strongly desired by Minister Dario Franceschini and was created with the aim of promoting and enhancing the Italian historical, artistic and archaeological heritage preserved in the storerooms of state art places.

The starting point of the project was the database, elaborated since 2015 by the General Directorate of Museums, consisting of 3,652 works from the deposits of more than 90 state museums. The selection of works and cultural venues, curated by the General Directorate of Museums together with museum directors, took into account evaluations and requests from peripheral entities. The selection was made on the basis of three criteria: works from churches or palaces located in other territories and over time flowing into the main Italian museums; paintings or sculptures that in this way make a “homecoming” to the places for which they were made; works that complement the collections of the recipient museum; and works that, included in the destination collections, give rise to interesting juxtapositions and encourage the opening of museums to new audiences. Thanks to the project, numerous works have been restored and some museum spaces have been rethought to accommodate them.

A list of the first departures has already been drawn up. By 2021 there will be five paintings that will leave from the Pinacoteca di Brera and arrive at the National Gallery in Urbino (these are works brought to Milan during the Napoleonic requisitions of 1811): Federico Barocci’s Madonna and Child in Glory and Saints John the Baptist and Francis (from the church of San Giovanni Battista dei Cappuccini in Fossombrone), Federico Barocci’sEcce Homo (from the Oratorio dei disciplinati in Urbino); the Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine and Magdalene and Angels by Pomarancio (from the church of Sant’Agostino in Fermo); the Madonna and Child in Glory and Saints Barbara and Terenzio by Simone Cantarini (from the church of Saints Cassiano and Eracliano in Pesaro); and the Baby Jesus Appearing to Saint Anthony of Padua by Simone Cantarini (from the church of San Francesco in Cagli). Again, Annibale Strata’sAllegory of Trieste, donated by the people of Trieste to Victor Emmanuel II in 1861, will leave the Royal Museums in Turin and reach the Miramare Castle in Trieste; Tiziano Vecellio ’s Portrait of Charles V will go from the Uffizi to Palazzo Besta in Teglio; and two paintings by Salvator Rosa, Landscape with Figures and Card Players, will leave the National Galleries of Ancient Art in Rome for the National Museum in Matera; the Gladiator that decorated the fish pond at Villa Giustiniani, now at the Ostia Antica Archaeological Park, will return to Villa Giustiniani; a bronze beam headpiece from the furnishings of Caligula’s ship will leave the National Roman Museum and go to the Museum of Roman Ships in Nemi; and the Cista Prenestina will go from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples to the Archaeological Museum in Palestrina.

And also from Brera, in 2022 a Saint Bruno at Prayer by Carlo Bononi will arrive at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Ferrara. Three works by Benvenuto Tisi known as Garofalo will arrive in the Emilian city, also in 2022: a Crucifixion with the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and Saints John and Vitus (from Brera), and a Miraculous Fishing and a Noli me tangere (from the Galleria Borghese in Rome). From Brera to the National Museum of Ravenna will arrive, also in 2022, a St. John the Evangelist Appearing to Galla Placidia by Niccolò Rondinelli, and six seventeenth-century panels by Johann Basilius Grundmann will leave the National Museum of Capodimonte and land at the National Museum of Matera.

The enhancement of the project also includes collaboration with Rai, which, through Rai Doc, will create a new format, consisting of a short documentary and a series of thirteen live episodes that will be broadcast on generalist networks. It will tell the story of the restitution and restoration of works of art, starting from the museums in Italy’s major cities, from the repositories where the work was kept and from the workshops where the skilled hands of restorers brought it back to life. The directors of the source and receiving museums, restorers, art historians and experts will explain to viewers the history of the work and the reasons why it ended up far from the places where it was born, while also offering insights into the activities of cultural heritage professionals. The format will follow the journey of the artworks, which, once secured, will be transported aboard special buses branded with the logo 100 works go home, to the museum that will receive them. This route, also filmed with drones, becomes an opportunity to tell the story of the diversity of the territories and places of Italy, to better discover the roots, the historical, geographical setting, and the landscape that inspired the artists.

“This project,” says Dario Franceschini, “gives new life to works of art that are in fact little visible, by more or less well-known artists, and promotes the smaller, peripheral and less visited museums. Only a portion of the works in state museums are currently on display: the rest are kept in storage, from which all the paintings and exhibits involved in this initiative come. These hundred works are only the first of a long-term project that aims to enhance the immense cultural heritage owned by the state.A goal that will also be achieved through a strong investment in digitization and in the definition of new ways of fruition by envisaging new collaborations such as the creation of a series of documentaries together with RAI, which also has the merit of strengthening the link between the territory and the work of art.”

100 works from big museums' storerooms return to their territories: new MiC project

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