Italian Ministry of Culture Appoints New Museum Directors for Major Institutions

The Italian Ministry of Culture has finalized the selection of new directors for first-tier and second-tier museums, chosen by Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano and General Director of Museums Massimo Osanna respectively. Renata Cristina Mazzantini, curator of the Quirinale contemporaneo project and advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, will lead the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, surpassing Micol Forti and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi. Simone Verde, director of the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, will head the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, beating Paola D'Agostino and Edith Gabrielli. Angelo Crespi, president of the MA*GA Museum in Gallarate, will direct the Pinacoteca di Brera, succeeding James Bradburne, and was chosen over Verde and Beatrice Bentivoglio-Ravasio. Eike Dieter Schmidt, former Uffizi director, will lead the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples, surpassing Cecile Hedwig Mathilde Hollberg and Marco Pierini. For second-tier museums, Costantino D'Orazio will direct the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria; Federica Zalabra the Museo Nazionale d'Abruzzo; Fabrizio Sudano the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria; Thomas Clement Salomon the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome (Palazzo Barberini and Galleria Corsini); Stella Falzone the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto; and Alessandra Necci the Gallerie Estensi in Modena. The appointments have sparked debate over political connections versus merit.