Since Sangiuliano's DM one third of autonomous museums are still without a director

The last regulatory act signed by former minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, before his resignation, came into force on 2 October, effectively implementing the new organisational regulations of the department in Via del Collegio Romano. No surprises, therefore, from Ministerial Decree, 5 September 2024, rep. 270, which confirmed what Arteconomy had written several times about the new organisation into four departments and the suppression of the General Secretariat and other central and regional directorates. In 2024, therefore, a third of the autonomous museums will remain without a director, 21 out of 67 as analysed by Arteconomy, and these include the Colosseum Archaeological Park, the Florentine pole of the Galleria dell'Accademia - Bargello Museums, the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the new pole formed by the Pantheon and Castel Sant'Angelo, and many other small and large institutes scattered throughout Italy, such as the monumental complex of the Pilotta.

From what we have learned from the editorial staff of Arteconomy, the minister Alessandro Giuli would be willing to take some time, freezing all appointments and not publishing any calls or interpellations, at least until the end of the year. Reading the legislation, one discovers the tasks entrusted to the Central Institute for the Economic Enhancement and Promotion of the Cultural Heritage, under the supervision of the DiVa, which will have to prepare initiatives to foster an increase in the profitability and financial self-sustainability of state institutes and cultural sites. In addition, it will have to produce merchandising products and other promotional material; it will have to develop qualitative and quantitative parameters, procedures and digital models aimed at evaluating the management of state institutes and places of culture in terms of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

In the Ministerial Decree, new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and blockchain appear, which will be the responsibility of the General Directorate for Digitisation and Communication, while the activity of promoting the brand of the National Museum System will be the responsibility of the General Directorate for Museums. The downgrading of the Digital Library is confirmed, framed as an organisational articulation of the General Directorate for Digitisation and Communication, the latter under the aegis of the DiAG.

Some large museums such as the Uffizi Galleries, the Colosseum Archaeological Park and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii will be supported in their management by a special Administrative Directorate. The decision to consider the National Museum of Digital Art as an appendix to the Pinacoteca di Brera is surprising, even though Maria Paola Borgarino was appointed director of the institute some time ago.