We are happy to announce that from the beginning of February 2021 Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, Villa and Panza Collection in Varese, Palazzina Appiani in Milan, the Olivetti Shop in Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Abbey of San Fruttuoso in Camogli (GE) will reopen in all safety.
Torre and Casa Campatelli in San Gimignano (SI), the Bay of Ieranto in Massa Lubrense (NA) and Casa Noha in Matera will continue to be regularly open. The other FAI assets in the “yellow zone” will respect the usual annual calendar and will reopen on Saturday 6 March.
As foreseen by an unclear if not inopportune provision, the openings will take place only on weekdays, thus mortifying both the civic service that a museum must perform, both the economic return and the proceeds from the ticket office and the sales at the bookshop allow especially on holidays .
The work inside the FAI assets and gardens, although closed due to the health emergency, has not stopped in recent months and the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance work carried out now allows us to reopen immediately in perfect efficiency: a decision that must be one part certainly has a high symbolic value, on the other it imposes an economic effort that risks not being effectively sustainable if the opening is not extended to holidays. While it may be understandable to gradually reactivate the cultural life of the country, it is good to consider that the efforts we are called to make risk being too onerous. The reopening on weekdays alone represents a highly penalizing obstacle: weekend visits, in fact, represent well over half of the total admissions. Opening on weekends, within the limits of the fight against the pandemic, is an absolute necessity for the very survival of museums.
