Turin will have sports, yoga and pilates classes in museums. Agreement signed

Three museums in Turin, namely the Civic Museum of Palazzo Madama, the Gallery of Modern Art (GAM) and the Museum of Oriental Art (MAO), will soon host sports, yoga and pilates classes. In fact, an agreement has been signed between Fondazione Torino Musei and CUS Torino. At the moment, not much more is known: there is no set schedule yet, nor is it known exactly which spaces will be occupied (there is talk of the Salone delle Feste in Palazzo Madama, the MAO’s functional hall and, in fine weather, the GAM garden or the terrace of Palazzo Madama). It is also known that classes will be held outside opening hours (one hour before opening or one hour after closing), and there will be the possibility of seeing temporary exhibitions in conjunction with the sports activity. Still, it is known that each museum will have specific sports activities that are different from those of other museums, designed specifically for the context that will host them. In addition to yoga and Pilates, there is also talk of table tennis (obviously not in the midst of the artworks, but in the MAO’s gardens).

The goal, according to what Elisabetta Rattalino, secretary general of the Fondazione Torino Musei, said at the press conference, is to open the doors of Turin’s museums to new audiences (for example, young people and sportsmen, the initiative’s target audience), and to better achieve this goal the initiative will be promoted in collaboration with other entities such as Confersecenti, Federalberghi or the Accademia Albertina. Rattalino went on to clarify that this will not be a commercial initiative but a program that will serve to make people experience museums with new eyes.

The idea, Rattalino stressed, is to open the three museums to the city: the secretary general of Fondazione Torino Musei has repeatedly dwelt on the importance of the combination of sports and culture, as it is capable of fostering openness toward the public and citizens. In addition, Rattalino again highlighted how sport can be a means for people to admire works of art and a way to experience the museum in an “emotional” way.

For Riccardo D’Elicio, president of CUS Torino, the agreement can be an interesting moment to promote culture and bring sportsmen closer to museums.

Of course, it should also be said that the last time that sports sessions were held inside museums in Turin, it didn’t exactly go so well: it was 2017 and the Egyptian Museum had had the idea of hosting a zumba class inside, against which, however, so much controversy was raised that the institution never replicated the initiative again. We will have to see what happens with yoga and pilates.

Pictured: a yoga class at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Turin will have sports, yoga and pilates classes in museums. Agreement signed

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