Museums are reopening their doors to citizens and tourists all across Italy. Now is the moment to enjoy them, to give culture a boost and do ourselves some good.
For months we hung tricolour flags from our windows and sang from our balconies, but is there any better declaration of love for one's country than visiting its art to pay homage to its beauty and excellence? Archaeological sites, galleries and museums have put in place all the necessary health and safety measures to welcome those who want to visit for the first time, or rediscover what makes Italy the most artistically rich country in the world. "Italy's reconstruction starts from the culture and beauty that surround us. And let's not forget that face masks leave our eyes free," wrote the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism Dario Franceschini on Twitter.
The first week of June was perhaps the week that saw the greatest number of Italian museums reopen: the Colosseum, a symbol not only of Rome but of the entire country, is now open to visitors, as are the Vatican Museums and the Scuderie del Quirinale, where a landmark exhibition dedicated to Raphael, celebrating 500 years since the birth of the Renaissance genius, has been extended. The capital is thus coming back to life, also thanks to tourists (both foreign and local) who, from 3 June, can visit the city and its renowned art venues — here are all the news updates on civic museums during this phase of the emergency.
Despite the challenges — above all economic ones, which in turn generate organisational difficulties — Italy's other great museum city, Florence, has nonetheless opened the doors of the Uffizi — albeit with reduced hours — and of a great many of its art venues, with opening times and arrangements available at this link. Venice, with its unprecedented atmosphere of quiet — perhaps slightly unreal, stripped as it is of the crowds that usually descend upon it — is waiting until 13 June for its civic museums; while in the south, one of the most beloved and celebrated sites, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, has already been welcoming visitors since the end of May. Perhaps capitalising on the lower spread of the virus, Sicily too has reopened the Valle dei Templi Park for several days now, with free admission until 7 June. These are just some of the wonders to visit in what promises to be a summer of rediscovering the jewels of our country. Wherever you plan to go, the advice is to check the official websites and Facebook pages in advance (which are often even more up to date) to stay informed in real time about opening times and organisational arrangements. The invitation, meanwhile, is to fill every treasure trove of art — while following the rules — and help breathe new life into them.
The rules for visiting museums safely are more or less the same throughout the country: compulsory use of a face mask, hand sanitisation and a physical distance of at least one metre to be maintained throughout one's time in enclosed spaces. What is particularly important, however, is online booking: it is now almost always mandatory, and allows entry to be staggered and visitor numbers to be planned in advance. Some may regard this requirement as an extra inconvenience; we would encourage you instead to see it as an opportunity to enjoy the works of art in greater peace and, often, in the company of qualified staff who can add real value to the experience. A further incentive may be the initiative taken by many museums during this period of offering reduced or even free admission to encourage citizens to return to art venues. Italy's artistic and cultural treasures need audiences and everything that visitors bring with them, so we certainly are not suggesting it is better to enjoy them in solitude, in half-empty museums. But perhaps this is a good moment to reclaim what makes this country unique in a new format — one that truly allows us to become aware of what lies before us.
Among the museums that have reopened to visitors and that we have visited in recent days, we highlight two — very different from each other — in Lombardy, one of the regions hardest hit by the virus.
The first is the Museo di Santa Giulia, undoubtedly the most representative museum in the city of Brescia, capable of astonishing visitors from the outset with its very structure: it is a monastic complex of Lombard origin now "transformed" into an exhibition area of around 14,000 square metres. What makes it unique is the opportunity it offers, in the course of a visit, to journey through different eras and thus understand the history of Brixia, the ancient name of the city. The Lombard basilica of San Salvatore and its crypt, the Romanesque oratory of Santa Maria in Solario, the Coro delle Monache, the sixteenth-century church of Santa Giulia and the cloisters are stages of a journey that will symbolically reach its final destination when, in autumn — presumably in November — the Winged Victory is returned: the most significant piece among the materials found at the Capitolium and one of the few bronze statues to have survived, the only one in northern Italy. An unmissable event. During this period, to ensure safety and distancing, access is organised for a maximum of 15 people per visit, allowing visitors to make the most of the entire museum route.
A short distance from Santa Giulia stands the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, where you will find, among others, works by Raphael, Foppa, Savoldo, Moretto, Romanino, Lotto, Ceruti, Hayez, Thorvaldsen, Pelagi, Canella and Canova. For tickets and access arrangements, all the information is available here.
In the Lombard capital, we then paid a welcome return visit to the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, which was among the first to reopen in Milan as soon as regulations permitted, and "invited" citizens to visit by offering tickets for just one euro for the first 3,000 admissions. It is a house museum in the city centre where, in an atmosphere redolent of a bygone era, paintings by great masters coexist in perfect harmony with furnishings and decorative art objects of extraordinary quality. Among the most evocative rooms are certainly the Armoury and the one dedicated to goldwork. In the paintings collection, our favourite is La Madonna con il bambino e il piccolo San Giovanni Battista by Pinturicchio, where the blazing red contrasts with the delicate pallor of the Virgin's face.
