100 million euros for Archives: Franceschini signs decree

100 million euros are on the way for archives: Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini has in fact signed, in agreement with Minister of Economy and Finance Daniele Franco, the decree implementing the rule provided for in ’Article 1, paragraphs 364 and 365 of the Budget Law 2022, which, in order to ensure the preservation and enjoyment of the archival heritage, allocates the sum of 100 million euros between 2022 and 2025 for the implementation of fireproofing and earthquake-proofing upgrades of archival institutions as well as for the purchase of real estate for the State Archives.

In detail, 46.9 million euros go to the purchase of properties to be used as archival storage hubs on the national territory, which will be identified in subsequent calls for bids, 28.5 million euros are for the purchase of properties currently leased for State Archives headquarters, with in particular the acquisition of two buildings of particular cultural interest in Rieti (Palazzo Canali, former branch of the Bank ofItaly) and in Barletta (the former Palazzo delle Poste, architecturally listed since 2002), €461,000 for earthquake-proofing interventions, €24.2 million for fire-fighting system upgrades, of which €5 million is directed to the state-owned area earmarked for the State Archives in Cagliari.

“100 million euros over four years for the purchase of 12 new buildings to be allocated to regional archival poles and 9 locations currently leased to rationalize expenses, anti-seismic verification interventions and fire retrofitting,” comments Minister Franceschini. “With the reopening of the State Archives to the public after the limitations due to the pandemic, these treasure chests of collective memory, whose activity has never stopped even in times of the harshest confinement, are provided with new resources to guarantee the protection of the preserved documents and ensure maximum security for students, scholars and researchers who consult them every day to reconstruct our history.”

The interventions region by region

Starting from the north, in Piedmont, 613,680 euros will be spent on the purchase of an industrial building to be used as an archival center for the provinces of Alessandria, Novara and Vercelli, which will also be affected by the upgrading of the fire-fighting system for 1,000,000 euros. For Lombardy there are 7,500,000 euros for the purchase of the building currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives of Brescia and 2,249.050 euros for a similar operation for the State Archives of Varese, for which there is also an intervention for the seismic vulnerability survey for 34,885 euros, and again for a similar operation there are then 20,187 euros allocated for the State Archives of Pavia. In Veneto, there are 5,355,000 euros for the acquisition of an industrial building to be used as an archival hub for the provinces of Padua and Treviso, to be identified through a subsequent public procedure, and 12,822 euros for the seismic vulnerability survey of the State Archives of Belluno. There is a single intervention in Trentino-Alto Adige, with 1,466,000 euros for the purchase of a building to be used as an archival hub in the province of Trento, to be identified by subsequent public bidding. In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 1,250,000 euros are coming for the purchase of the property currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives of Gorizia and 550.000 euros for the purchase of the property currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives of Pordenone, and in addition there are 69,828 euros for the seismic vulnerability investigation of the new headquarters of the State Archives of Udine in the former Savorgnan barracks. In Emilia Romagna there are plans to purchase three industrial buildings to be used as archival hubs in the provinces of Bologna, with an allocation of 1,800,000 euros, Ferrara, with an allocation of 900,000 euros, and Modena, with an allocation of 746,640 euros, all to be identified through subsequent calls for bids. In the same buildings, work will be carried out on fire prevention systems in amounts of 700,000 euros for the building in the province of Bologna, 800,000 euros for the one in the province of Ferrara, and 300,000 euros for the last one in the province of Modena.

Turning to the center, as far as Tuscany is concerned there are 1,717,100 euros for the acquisition of an industrial building to be used as an archival center in the provinces of Prato and Pistoia, to be identified by subsequent public notice, 2,000,000 euros for the purchase of the building currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives in Massa, and 1,628.953 euros for a similar operation concerning the State Archives of Pistoia, and then again 32,963 euros for the seismic vulnerability survey of Palazzo Albergotti, headquarters of the State Archives of Arezzo, 9,158 euros for the same purpose at the Pontremoli section of the State Archives and 69,000 euros for Palazzo Toscanelli, headquarters of the State Archives of Pisa. In Umbria, one intervention: 45,134 for the seismic vulnerability survey of the Spoleto section of the State Archives of Perugia. In the Marches comes the sum of 1,432,613 euros for the purchase of the building currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives of Ascoli Piceno, which will also be the subject of seismic vulnerability investigations for 38,767 euros. For Lazio, there are 6,519,000 euros for the purchase of real estate to be used as an archival hub for the provinces of Latina, Rieti, Rome and Viterbo, to be identified through subsequent public procedures, with the related adaptation of the fire-fighting systems for 1,519,000 euros; and 26,000,000 euros for the Central State Archives, which has reported an allocative need of about 26,000 square meters to be used for archival storage and accessory rooms, with the related adaptation of the fire-fighting system for 5.657,000 euros; again, there comes 1,600,000 euros for the purchase of Palazzo Canali in Rieti, a former branch of the Bank of Italy, to be used as the new headquarters of the local State Archives, currently leased at another property; 25,046 euros for an intervention of seismic vulnerability investigation and 3,080,000 euros for the adaptation of the fire-fighting system of the same Palazzo Canali.

In the south, we start withAbruzzo, where the following interventions are already planned: 1,760,000 euros for the purchase of an industrial building in the municipality of Pescara and Teramo to be used as an archival center, to be identified through a subsequent public procedure; 750,000 euros for the necessary fire-fighting interventions in the same building; and 19,778 euros for a seismic vulnerability survey of the Sulmona section of the State Archives. One intervention in Campania, with 36,420 euros for the seismic vulnerability investigation of the Monastery of Saints Severino and Sossio, home of the Naples State Archives, and its subsidiary branch in Pizzofalcone. One intervention also in Puglia, 4,250,000 euros for the acquisition of the former Palazzo delle Poste in Barletta, tied up since 2002, to be used as the new headquarters of the local State Archives, while two in Calabria: 770,000 euros for the purchase of the property currently leased for the headquarters of the Locri section of the State Archives; 7,617 euros for the seismic vulnerability investigation of the same property. Finally, one intervention each for the islands: in Sicily there are 5,044,750 euros for the purchase of the property currently leased for the headquarters of the State Archives in Syracuse, and in Sardinia there is a 5 million euro intervention to upgrade the fire prevention system in the 1,600 square meters of the State Archives in Cagliari between 2023 and 2024.

Image: the Central State Archives. Photo by Maristela Possamai

100 million euros for Archives: Franceschini signs decree

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