Pisa is a candidate for Italian capital of culture, but museums are closed. The complaint of Una città in comune

Pisa is in the group of 44 candidate cities for the title of Italian Capital of Culture 2021, yet it would not be equipped for this demanding challenge. This, at least, is the thesis of the civic list “Una citta in comune,” which published a note a few hours ago in which it states, in no uncertain terms, that if Pisa ever becomes the capital of culture, it will do so ... behind closed doors. This is not the first time that Pisa has attempted to win the title: it had already competed to become the Italian capital of culture in 2016 (defeated in the final by Mantua), and tried again the following year when, having reached the final again, it was beaten by Pistoia. Now the city of the Tower is back in the limelight for the 2021 title.

However, there are not a few problems, according to “A City in Common.” Meanwhile, the museums: the data on admissions referred to 2018, the list writes in a note, “are alarming and only confirm the comatose state of the art in which the city and the territory have been in for years: the three national museums (Certosa di Calci, Museums of San Matteo and the Royal Palace) together recorded about 35,000 admissions, of which less than 20,000 were paying.” And again, “if the surveys were about 2019 we would be faced with something frightening: for months the National Museum of San Matteo, one of the most important collections of medieval art in the world, has been opening its doors on Sunday mornings and from Tuesday to Saturday at fixed hours (8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.) due to lack of staff. Those who had a chance to visit it in recent weeks, patiently waiting for the door to open, found an abandoned, deserted place and, moreover, without heating. After all, the small national museums have been condemned to life by the Franceschini Reform: unstaffed and unfunded, led by a single director of the Regional Museum Pole, on which dozens of institutions depend, who has never spoken out on the matter.”

Opening problems also affect the new Museum of Ancient Ships: “it still opens its doors only on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. and from Friday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Things should have changed, instead everything languishes, but why? Because the Ministry (which for more than 20 years has invested almost as many millions of euros on the excavations and then on the setting up of the museum) has no money to run it and has entrusted it to a cooperative of willing and trained young people, who can do no more than that. As a result, the ticket price is that of any private museum: for schools the cost is €5 each, €120 per group if a guided tour is requested; in total about €10 per kid. In national museums, admission for school groups is free.”

What “A city in common lacks,” according to “Una città in comune,” is “a serious cultural policy, which should create a synergy among different institutions, leading first of all to a joint ticket that also involves the museums of the territory,” since there are realities that, on the contrary, work very well, such as the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and Palazzo Blu, a sign that visitors are actually not lacking.

In the shadow of the Tower, concludes the note of “A City in Common,” “the cultural landscape is bleak and in addition to what could be the Pisan museum system, the critical situation of the civic libraries and not only should not be forgotten (the University Library is no longer talked about). We are the Capital of Culture ... behind closed doors.”

Pictured: the National Museum of San Matteo. Ph. Credit

Pisa is a candidate for Italian capital of culture, but museums are closed. The complaint of Una città in comune

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