With Italy’s change of government comes a change for museum visitors: the new Culture Minister, Alberto Bonisoli, announced he’s cancelling the free admission on the first Sunday of each month that his predecessor launched in 2014.
Bonisoli said he’s cancelling it because it leads to “undervaluing our sites” and because he is concerned that too many people take advantage of it, leading to crowding. He called it a good “publicity launch,” but said that “If we continue with it, in my opinion we’ll go in a direction that nobody will like.”
His centre-left predecessor, Dario Franceschini, has called on Bonisoli to rethink the cancellation, and told press that “I can’t keep quiet, because the free Sundays aren’t something related to me, but are a cultural and social event that has involved around 10 million people […] a large number of whom were visiting a museum for the first time in their life.” He added, “Don’t make culture and Italians pay for a desire to break with the political past.”
Image: Streets of Pompeii, among the sites that have been part of the free admission program.
