The Lazio Regional Administrative Court canceled the appointments of 5 of the 20 directors of the main Italian museums. The reason? “The announcement of the selection could not allow non-Italian citizens to participate in the competition – write the administrative judges – as no derogatory provision allowed the recruitment of public managers outside the mandatory indications expressed by article 38. In fact, if the legislator had wanted to extend the audience of candidates for a managerial position including non-Italian citizens would have said it clearly".
Dario Franceschini, Minister of Cultural Heritage, entrusted his reaction to twitter:
The world has seen Italian museums change in 2 years and now the Lazio TAR cancels the appointments of 5 directors. I have no words, and it's better..
- Dario Franceschini (@dariofrance) May 25, 2017
The Regional Administrative Court also explains that "the alleged illegitimacy of the oral test is strengthened" by "the circumstance that it was held behind closed doors", in some cases via Skype. The two decrees of the Administrative Court also speak of "magmatic criteria" in the evaluation of candidates.
Among the directors whose appointment has been annulled are those of the archaeological park of Paestum (the German Gabriel Zuchtriegel) and of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (the Austrian Peter Assmann). The other foreigners named two years ago were the German Eike Schmidt at the Uffizi, the French Sylvain Bellenger at Capodimonte, the Canadian with a British passport James Bradburne at Brera, the Austrian Peter Aufreiter at the Museo delle Marche (Urbino) and another German, Cecilie Hollberg, at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.
The recent reform of the museums by Franceschini has assigned full organisational, scientific, financial and accounting autonomy to 32 museums. The first twenty have already been in operation for two years and the results seem to be positive in terms of initiatives and number of visitors.
"Naturally now there will be an immediate appeal to the Council of State with the request for suspension, but what worries me most is that one thing for which Italy has made itself appreciated throughout the world is being questioned - commented Franceschini on the sidelines of an event at the Mibact – There are also practical consequences, because the sentence has been published and as of today five important museums are without directors".
The minister then underlined that "the reform of Italian museums, with the international selection for directors published in the Economist, has obtained plots all over the world and originates from a legal provision of the so-called 'art bonus' decree which identified this particular procedure for museum directors. Calling European citizens 'foreigners' is wrong and above all it contrasts with the jurisprudence and very precise sentences of the European Court of Justice and of the Council of State itself which we saw very well before making that selection, with the support of our legislative office. It amazes me to speak of an unclear and magmatic procedure, the international solution was made by an absolutely impartial commission composed of a director of the National Gallaery in London, the director of the most important cultural institution in Berlin, a German archaeologist, the president of the Biennale of Venice, by a person who has just been appointed adviser to French President Macron on cultural issues, it seems to me that there can be no more guarantee of neutrality than this".
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The paradox is that, in the end, only one of the five directors left without a job is a foreigner. The list is this: Paolo Giulierini, National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Carmelo Malacrino, National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, Eva Degli Innocenti, director of the National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Martina Bagnoli, director of the Estensi Galleries of Modena, Peter Assmann, director of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua.
Read also: Revolution in Italian museums: a German will lead the Uffizi, a British in Brera
