Perhaps the most singular, at least in the theme, is the one dedicated to the lie in Le Piastre (PT). Nine rooms, sixty-one panels, is the first museum in the world dedicated to the lack of truth, from the die of Caesar to the foot of Modigliani, up to Dustin Hoffman godfather of the first Championship of liars. But there is also the Casa Museo Spada which in Lecce collects hundreds of musical instruments. And then the thousand precise gears of the "time machines" kept at the Tovo S. Giacomo clock museum in Liguria or the now famous Museum of the button in Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN). It is the "army" of small museums which, like super "big" ones like the Uffizi Galleries or the Colosseum, will be able to return to visitors from 18 May.
"There is no village in Italy that does not have one", Giancarlo Dall'Ara, president of APM - National Association of Small Museums, tells ANSA. "Only we - he says - collect 400 of them, but we count that there are more than 10,000. Which, together with the greats, would make Italy the leading country in Europe. The problem, if anything, is being able to keep them open. this period". Often born from private collections or from the creativity and commitment of experts and enthusiasts, they are the heart of that slow tourism, made up of villages, villages and realities far from the circuits of the great masses, as well as stories and people, who could be one of the fundamental engines for the restart of the whole sector, now that social distances and non-crowding will be the new imperative. "Great creativity has always been our key. You have to invent a solution or people in a country rich in offers like ours risk not noticing that you exist - Dall'Ara continues - I think of the Bora Museum in Trieste: 40 square meters you can hardly expose the wind. And yet they come from all over Italy to visit it. Like the Hat Museum, in a remote village in the Marche: when you arrive you think it will take you a few minutes and then you will continue on your way. visit with the curator you can stay even hours to listen to his story and you will want to discover other small museums. A quality that during the lockdown came out with a multiplication of virtual visits, workshops, distance learning. The size sharpens the ingenuity ", smiles the President. Now, after the lockdown and the Coronavirus emergency, he says, "our orientation is to ask the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism for a specific call for aid for small museums. The fear is that with a single call for the whole museum category, the few resources available will end up going only to adults ".
But from May 18, how many small museums will reopen to visitors? "The impression is that not everyone will feel like it, not right away - continues Dall'Ara - We need to adapt to the necessary measures and also to prepare. Many of the small museums also employ teams of volunteers. The first week I think they will not open more than 30%. Hoping that everyone will gradually adapt. " In the meantime, the six-point vademecum is already available from the Association, from the programming of the accesses (also taking advantage of the possibility of advance reservations) to the reduction of the number of entrances from 30% to 50%. Then the preparation of the reception points equipped with gels, masks and, if necessary, gloves (many are free admission, therefore there are no cases); the construction of an obligatory route; sanitizing the rooms at least once a day. And with great strides already approaching June 3 and the fourth edition of the National Day of Small Museums, traditionally celebrated by giving visitors themed gifts, from the recipes of the Nuns to local ceramics, mixtures of nectifar seeds and even a copy of the prison diary by Osiride Brovedani, the man who "gave" Fissan to Italy and suffered the Nazi concentration camps. "The desire to leave is there - concludes Dall'Ara - because the beauty is to show her things, not keep them to herself".