In the scenario of the “city of the bridge”, the project of creating a new headquarters of the MaXXI of Rome on the banks of the Strait is progressing. In recent days, the president of the Foundation of the most important Italian Museum of the Arts of the 21st century, Alessandro Giuli, returned to the city to meet the new rector Giovanna Spatari, also given the involvement of the Peloritano University in this ambitious project.
In October 2023, the supplementary deed for the creation of a branch of the MaXXI «destined to be a hub of contemporary creativity in the Mediterranean» was signed by President Giuli and Mayor Federico Basile.. A signature – declared the mayor of Messina on that occasion – which concludes the path started a year ago and which today, thanks to a profitable synergy of intent, begins to be defined through this additional act to give substance to a unique vision of development and opportunities of growth for our territory. This is a collaboration capable of creating important synergies in the national and international context. The choice of Messina as the site of such a museum center reaffirms the strategic role of the city of the Strait seen not only in the context of the Mediterranean area, but testifies to the strategic planning of this Administration, in continuity with the path already started by the De Luca Administration , to proceed with actions aimed at representing important investments. In this case, it is an operation that falls within the scope of urban regeneration interventions aimed at transforming the face of the city and its extended province in a long-term vision, through the creation of a research and training center for new professionalism in the cultural sector to restore Messina's role as the center of gravity of the Mediterranean”.
Well, the implementation procedures of what is foreseen in the memorandum of understanding, signed in July 2023 in Rome (when the mayor will meet Giuli in the MaXXI headquarters, accompanied by Senator Nino Germanà and the advisor to the Minister of Culture Sangermano, Fabio Longo from Messina ), and in the October supplementary act, they proceed quite quickly. The Municipality of Messina has made the “Morandi Towers” in Torre Faro available to the project, which will be adapted and renovated to house the rooms of the Museum of Contemporary Arts. The University, however, offered Villa Pace, destined to become a precious cultural hub linked to the MaXXI. The “Morandi Towers” are sold to the MaXXI Foundation for a period of no less than 15 years. And obviously the restoration and adaptation of the premises into a museum center will be the responsibility of the MaXXI Foundation. «The objective – as Giuli explained – is to create a Museum with the function of facilitating intercultural dialogue between Europe, the Maghreb and the Middle East through the universal language of Art».
