The transfer of documents from the State Archives to Catania has begun. The first vans left yesterday morning, taking away, first, the oldest and most precious notarial deeds. What was wanted to be avoided is instead happening and the city watches in astonishment, astonished at the transfer of its historical memory to the Etna city. This will continue until the last document has left the premises in via La Farina, which will be returned to the owner on December 31st.
Meanwhile, the notice has been published on the Archive’s web page that “starting from Monday 13 October all Sala di Studio activities will be temporarily suspended”, just as the correspondence research service has already been suspended.
Is this a temporary or permanent move? There is no clarity on this point and our repeated attempts to speak to the director, Grazia Pistone, have had no luck. Indeed, there is a mystery to muddy the waters even more: yesterday morning, in fact, a notice of a “property market investigation” appeared on the Archive page, which stated that the Archive “is interested in identifying a property to be leased, already available or to be adapted, with delivery within the maximum term of 6 (six) months from the date of signing the contract”. Indeed, it was the same notice published last April, but which was not successful. After a few hours, however, the notice disappeared from the Archive website. Mystery! In the meantime, through word of mouth and on social media, the news went viral that the first vehicles loaded with precious documents had already left Messina. This circumstance has led to a new mobilization on the part of those who, over the course of these months, have fought to prevent the closure and transfer of the Archive.
The first to react were some artists, intellectuals and ordinary citizens, who called a public meeting for Saturday in Piazza Unione Europea, at 11am, in which the whole city is called to participate. Among the promoters are the tireless Lelio Bonaccorso, who also launched a passionate video online, Marco Grassi and Adolfo Leporino. Password: the history of Messina cannot be touched.
The first to launch an appeal were the Messina College of Notaries, the Friends of the Museum and a large spontaneous committee made up of historians and scholars led by Alfio Seminara, former director of the State Archives.
