Minister Bonisoli: we will abolish free Sundays at museums. Choices will be left to directors

The news was in the air, but now the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Alberto Bonisoli, has made an announcement that leaves no room for misunderstanding: during a visit to the National Library in Naples, the minister declared that “free Sundays in museums will be abolished in a few months.”

However, it will not be a total abolition: that is, Bonisoli also stated that if the director of a state museum wishes to give a free Sunday to visitors, he will be left free to choose. “It’s when I oblige, that it doesn’t work to make Sundays free,” reiterated Bonisoli, who also explained how, internationally, the Free Sundays initiative has drawn a lot of criticism. Free Sundays, he continued, could be an interesting idea in the off-season, but could prove to be a boomerang during peak tourist periods. Not to mention that, for the minister, letting people in for free does not offer a good image: “if one thinks one is paying for something and suddenly it becomes free, it seems a bit of a rip-off: carrying this project well beyond the period for which it was intended is not good.”

At the moment there is still no official date after which free Sundays will be abolished. However, it is almost certain that the cancellation of #sundaymonth will occur after the summer.

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Minister Bonisoli: we will abolish free Sundays at museums. Choices will be left to directors

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