Brera guards caught sleeping on duty amid Italian museum reform debate

On January 5, 2018, a visitor to the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan documented widespread negligence by security staff. Guards were found sleeping at their posts, watching videos on smartphones, or absent entirely, leaving artworks including Caravaggio's 'Supper at Emmaus' and Pellizza da Volpedo's 'Il Quarto Stato' unmonitored. Visitors exchanged used tickets freely, bypassing controls. The author, Massimiliano Tonelli, criticizes the incomplete implementation of the Franceschini reform, which granted autonomy to museum directors but left them without authority over personnel. He argues that the reform's success in boosting visitor numbers should now enable full implementation, overcoming union resistance and inefficiencies. The article calls on the next Minister of Culture to complete the reform, warning that without it, the 'super directors' system remains hypocritical.