Campaign For A Living Venice

The announcement of the president of the Civic Museums, Mariacristina Gribaudi comes on the day that the Campanile of San Marco also reopened.

By Enrico Tantucci

2 March 2021

“The museums in the Marciana area will be open Thursday and Friday and will be open on those same days for the entire month of March, until the new Government decree on the coronavirus emergency. The Palazzo Ducale will open from 10 until 18 and the Museo Correr from 11 until 17. We reserve the right to expand the openings to Saturdays and Sundays also, as soon as the directives allow. Starting in April, moreover, the Marciana area museums will remain open from Thursday to Sunday, while from Friday to Sunday we will reopen the Murano Glass Museum, Ca’ Pesaro, the Natural History Museum, the Textile museums at Palazzo Mocenigo and at Merletto on Burano. For Ca’ Rezzonico and Palazzo Fortuny instead we will need to wait for completion of the restoration and remodeling work underway.”

In a surprising choice yesterday, the president of the Civic Museums, Mariacristina Gribaudi chose the Council commission dedicated to two inquiries on the closure of the Civic Museums until April presented by PD City Councilor Monica Sambo, to make the unexpected announcement of the at least partial reopening of the main museum, after the diktat ordering their closure until April announced previously by the Mayor, who is also the vice-president of the Foundazione and the Secretary of Culture, Luigi Brugnaro. Brugnaro was not actually present at the commission yesterday to sanction the partial course reversal by the Civic Museums, having delegated the Secretary of the Budget, Michele Zuin. His absence was criticized by the president of the Culture Commission itself, Giorgia Pea, who is also a member of their ranks. It is positive news, though, after the many protest demonstrations and the appeals against the closures of the last several weeks, and it arrives at the same time that the Campanile of San Marco has also reopened to the public.

However, at the center of the discussion was the prolonged closure of the Civic Museums despite two consecutive budgets showing a profit, after obtaining about 8.5 million Euro in compensation from the government and a bank loan of 4 million Euro, without which there would have been a real need, as emphasized in the inquiries filed by Sambo.

The defense was entrusted to Secretary Zuin, who explained how there would be budget surpluses, but only of a few hundred thousand Euro, and that the loan had been decided upon in April to guarantee liquidity when compensation funds from the government had not yet arrived (and 1.5 million Euro are still missing from the appeal). “We will protect jobs, but we will not let you ruin it all”, was his harsh reply to the Secretary of the CGIL Public Function, Daniel Giordano, who reminded him of the museum employees’ eight months on furlough. There were many speeches, among which were those of the Organizational Secretary of the Fondazione Musei, Mattia Agnetti, and of the Director Gabriella Belli, who pointed out how 98% of the Civic Museums’ budget is based on income from ticket sales and that prudence is therefore a must. But from the many councilors who spoke – Gasparinetti, Gervasutti, Saccà, Rosteghin, Baglioni, Fantuzzo, in addition to Sambo – came a different set of emphases: from better communication from the Fondazione about executive salaries, to a greater attention to residents and the world of schools, beyond the tourists.

Meanwhile reopening begins…

Source: La Nuova Venezia