The exhibition “The Gods Return. The Bronzes of San Casciano”, curated by the General Director of the Museums Massimo Osanna and Jacopo Tabolli, professor at the University for Foreigners of Siena. The Reggio exhibition comes after the public success of the Quirinale and the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.
The event was attended by the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Reggio Calabria Paolo Brunetti, the Deputy Mayor of the Metropolitan City, Carmelo Versace, the Mayor of the Municipality of San Casciano dei Bagni Agnese Carletti, the Director of the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria Fabrizio Sudano and the Scientific Coordinator of the excavation Jacopo Tabolli of the University for Foreigners of Siena and Massimo Osanna, General Director of Museums. The exhibition brings to the city of the Strait the bronze statues discovered in 2022 in the Etruscan and Roman thermal sanctuary of Bagno Grande in San Casciano dei Bagni. A temporary exhibition that will be open until next January 12th.
“A tempting opportunity to offer this opportunity to visit to many fellow citizens, but also to many tourists present in the city. At the time of the extraordinary discovery of the Bronzes of San Casciano – clarified the deputy mayor Brunetti – a sort of competition had been created with the Bronzes of Riace. We can’t say with certainty today that there was any competition. Rather, if anything, a virtuous and complementary synergy, so much so that we are starting to think about the idea of a possible twinning with the city of San Casciano, if the mayor and the city agree, we would like to carry forward this idea, and explore the cultural aspects that our cities have in common. The images of San Casciano already show the profound beauty of this small and rich town. This morning we are making a commitment to continue this initiative. Finally, I want to thank the Ministry and all those who worked for the success of the initiative. In particular, Director Sudano who has been working for the city of Reggio Calabria for a long time, he represents an added value for us”.
For her part, Mayor Carletti said she was enthusiastic about returning to the Reggio Museum that she had known as a young student visiting with her school. “For us it is an honor to be here in the house that preserves the Bronzes par excellence, the Riace Bronzes – she highlighted – it is a great emotion but also an opportunity for exchange between San Casciano and a reality like that of Reggio Calabria. The Bronzes, we know, have nothing in common with each other, but I believe that both, in different eras, have reawakened in Italians an affection for cultural heritage”.
“We are enthusiastic,” said director Sudano, “personally, as an archaeologist, I have never felt the rivalry between the bronzes of San Casciano and the Bronzes of Riace because I have always known that the importance of this discovery is completely different in context, as an object, but equally fundamental. For this reason, it was important for me to have them here at the Museum to show the difference and to make people understand how great the story that can be told about our cultural heritage is.”
Satisfaction expressed by the mayor Giuseppe Falcomatà who entrusted his applause to a message addressed to the MarRC audience and to the director Fabrizio Sudano. “Remember when they wanted to take the Riace Bronzes away to exhibit them in other places and many feared that they would never come back? Today the trend has been reversed – the mayor highlighted – our National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria is among the most beautiful and visited in the Mediterranean and not only are the Riace Bronzes firmly in place, visited every year by hundreds of thousands of tourists, but we are the ones who attract temporary exhibitions of other beautiful works of art. From today until January 12, the San Casciano Bronzes are on display at the MarRC. Wonders that embrace other wonders. Thanks to the foresight of Director Sudano, a virtuous alliance between institutions, associations and citizens is being built around the Museum. It is no coincidence that the two most important archaeological discoveries of the last two centuries are here today, in our city, in our Museum, in our home. And it is a real source of pride for us”.