Di Maio's cultural gaffe: There are no worthy museums in Taranto. But MArTA director retorts

Clamorous gaffe by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Luigi Di Maio, who while speaking yesterday on the program Cartabianca on Rai 3 allowed himself to make a rash remark about Taranto and its museums: the area, according to Di Maio, would not have “worthy museums.” These are the words of the vice-premier: “We will invest money in a university in Taranto, in tourism in Taranto. That is the area with the largest archaeological finds in all of Magna Graecia and it does not have museums worthy of that area.” But in fact Taranto itself is home to MArTA, the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, one of the most important archaeological museums in Italy and the world, which houses within it precisely one of the world’s largest collections of Magna Graecia finds.

A museum, moreover, with a long history: it was established in 1887 to preserve the area’s numerous finds, it has recently been renovated (starting in 1998), and with the Franceschini reform it became one of the top twenty autonomous museums in Italy. Its itinerary includes artifacts ranging from prehistory to the early Middle Ages and, with nearly 80,000 visitors, it is the third most visited site in Puglia, after Castel del Monte and the Archaeological Park of Siponto (the latter, however, provides only free admission).

The retort from Eva Degl’Innocenti, director of MArTA, was not long in coming. In a tweet, the scholar addressed the deputy prime minister directly, “Dear Minister Luigi Di Maio as Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto I would be honored to welcome you to the most important archaeological museum of Magna Graecia which is based in Taranto one of the most important archaeological museums world.”

Di Maio's cultural gaffe: There are no worthy museums in Taranto. But MArTA director retorts

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