Ginori Museum, no confirmation for Tomaso Montanari: "it's fascism." Fdi: "change after years of inaction"

A case has broken out over the non-renewal of art historian Tomaso Montanari as president of the Fondazione Museo Archivio Richard Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia in Sesto Fiorentino. In his place, lawyer Marco Corsini, mayor of Rio nell’Elba, was appointed. Montanari’s non-confirmation has generated several reactions in the cultural world.

The Ginori Museum is an institution of great historical and artistic value, linked to the famous porcelain manufacture founded in 1737 by Marquis Carlo Ginori. After years of closure and uncertainty about its fate, the museum had been at the center of a major recovery and enhancement project, made possible thanks to its acquisition by the state and the support of local and private entities. Only a few days ago, Montanari had written an open letter to Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli to request the renewal of the board of directors, which expired last Oct. 20, 2024. Giuli’s decision then came, but evidently not the one Montanari expected.

The art historian on Twitter speaks bluntly of “sacking”: in an interview with La Nazione, the outgoing president said that Giuli was determined to renew his appointment. The two allegedly had an exchange on Dec. 11, via Whatsapp. “But then,” Montanari said, “there was a veil of silence and nothing more happened until two days ago.” Montanari’s hypothesis is that the non-renewal is a consequence of the art historian’s pending criminal case , an investigation following a lawsuit filed against him by Minister Francesco Lollobrigida over an article written by Montanari. According to the art historian, however, Ministry technicians explained to Giuli that this would be an irrelevant proceeding, partly because it concerns a crime of opinion. Therefore, according to Montanari it is simply a “pretext.” In his view, “The reality is that there is a lack of motivation, an excess of power and perhaps even political discrimination. The minister’s freedom to appoint whomever he likes is not the arbitrariness of doing and undoing in the same process one thing and its opposite. They would have appointed an art critic at least, but this is just not right, just read the resume of whoever was chosen.” Finally, in no uncertain terms, Montanari calls his non-renewal a “disaster,” as he believes it is the end of a job done in view of the reopening of the Ginori Museum. “It is an exclusively political settling of scores that uses the cultural heritage as a hostage,” he concludes. “If this is cultural hegemony it actually seems to me more like looting.”

Montanari then also wrote a very harsh post on Instagram to reiterate his position: “It is a purely squadrist act of exercising power for power’s sake. Not to make, but to take away. Not to build, but to destroy. Absurd, senseless violence: in which everyone has something to lose. The minister his face, the nation a heritage. Violence and cowardice together: it is called fascism.”

In Montanari’s defense, the president of the Region of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, intervened: “With absolute conviction I formally expressed my appreciation for the indication of Montanari as president of the Foundation. Yesterday [editor’s note: Monday], however, I received the letter from the head of the Ministry’s cabinet Valentina Gemignani indicating lawyer Corsini as the new president. A cold shower, the communication came without any respect for the path of consultation and without any contact or signal. For me, the president is and remains Montanari: I will write to Minister Giuli asking for a meeting among the Foundation’s members that could end with the confirmation of Montanari as president.”

Harsh the mayor of Sesto Fiorentino, Lorenzo Falchi: “This is a miserable act that comes without any explanation. Lawyer Corsini’s resume includes numerous positions, none of which are pertinent to the presidency of an artistic or cultural association. I undertake to ask the minister for explanations of the reasons that unfortunately seem to respond to the logic of occupying institutional spaces and positions, even free of charge such as that of the presidency of the Ginori Museum Foundation.”

The Florence CGIL also rallies around Montanari: “Grave and incomprehensible is the non-reappointment of Prof. Montanari as president of the Ginori Museum Foundation. Prof. Montanari, in addition to the renowned expertise he embodies on these matters, has always strongly represented how the value of work is closely linked to the beauty of the artifacts that the hands of the Ginori workers have shaped over the centuries. Montanari has always stressed that the Ginori museum should represent not only the beauty of the artifacts that have made art history, but also the history of the work that produced them and the history of a territorial community that was forged on the values of those workers, of which that beauty is the outcome. The regret could not be greater because we are in danger of losing a great opportunity to revitalize the museum and its historical value of relationship with the territory.”

Instead, defending Minister Giuli’s choice was Alessandro Amorese of Fratelli d’Italia, a member of the Culture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies: “That the left cries scandal over Minister Alessandro Giuli’s replacement of Tomaso Montanari as president of the Ginori Museum Foundation is just further confirmation that culture has been perceived, and managed, not as a common good, but as an instrument for exercising its own self-proclaimed power. The name of Tomaso Montanari, a practitioner of systemic and continuous insult against the Meloni government, cannot be considered synonymous with any assured appointment because it is dictated by automatisms and conventions of a certain political party, which confuses democracy with a conformist system of power. Evidently it benefits the left and Montanari himself to be reminded of this. Changing step, for the sake of the Ginori Museum Foundation, after years of inaction and refrains of good intentions that never became concrete actions, is therefore not only necessary, but this change in the leadership of the Foundation represents a radical paradigm shift. Marco Corsini, a lawyer for the State, is a figure with administrative and management skills, characteristics more suitable than ever to relaunch, with a new impetus, an excellence of our country, a treasure chest of Richard Ginori porcelain, a symbol of Italian know-how in the world. Our best wishes for the good work that the Ginori Museum Foundation deserves go to him.”

Marco Corsini will now have to face the challenge of continuing the museum’s path of enhancement, seeking to ensure its reopening to the public and full operation. The cultural community and art lovers are watching this handover carefully, aware of the importance of the Museo Ginori not only for the history of Italian artistic manufacturing, but also for the international museum scene. It remains to be seen what Corsini’s approach will be and what his programmatic lines will be for the institution’s future.

Ginori Museum, no confirmation for Tomaso Montanari: "it's fascism." Fdi: "change after years of inaction"

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