They are women dedicated to enhancing the precious heritage of culture and beauty that Calabria boasts. They manage museums, archaeological parks, art galleries and sites of notable interest. Far-sighted, innovative and eager to tell another story of the Calabrian territory, transforming these places into vital spaces, serving the communities.
«Culture, with its disruptive weapons, is a focal point for changing the narrative of our territories – he declares Mariangela Preta, at the helm of the Soriano museum complex for four years – and thus offer a new vision of our region. A region to which each domination has given an immense gift, leaving tangible signs of its presence.” The exhibition itineraries of the museum center are aimed not only at promoting knowledge and valorisation of the important artistic heritage of Soriano and its monumental convent building, but also at underlining the centrality, in the Calabrian cultural context, of the entire province. Furthermore, the museum system is made even more important and complete thanks to the creation of the Earthquake museum, unique in Southern Italy. «Calabria boasts a glorious past and it is from here that it is necessary to start again to talk about this wonderful land – continues Mariangela Preta – holder of an inestimable cultural heritage».
At the head of the National Gallery of Cosenzalocated in the sixteenth-century Palazzo Arnone, whose exhibition spaces unfold along a path that shows significant moments of art from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century with works by painters born in Calabria and Neapolitan artists who influenced local painting, It’s Rossana Baccari. While Camilla Brivio directs the Cattolica of Stiloan emblematic monument of Byzantine Calabria, and the church of San Francesco a Gerace, an important example of the architecture of the mendicant order in southern Italy, built between the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century on the remains of a previous Romanesque building. Elisa Nisticò is director of the wonderful Parks and Museums of Scolacium, in the Borgia countryside, and of Kaulonìa in Monasterace Marina; instead the underwater archeology of ancient Kroton, Riace and Porticello, Villa San Giovanni and Cannitello is entrusted to responsible for the Superintendence sector, Alessandra Ghelli.
Archaeologists, art historians and architects, custodians of ancient memories, who follow a single leitmotif: to accompany the study with every possible aspect of enjoyment by the public, for a full and real valorization of the Calabrian cultural heritage. The same is true for Elena Trunfio, at the helm of the archaeological park of Locri and Bova Marina for three years: «In Calabria there is a lot of talk about equal opportunities – he underlines – and, in our field, we are certainly pioneers. We are professionals committed to promoting culture in our region at 360 degrees, in order to enhance our territory, through initiatives that involve adults and young generations. Archaeological parks and museums, whose social purpose is extremely important, in the past have often been understood as closed places. But today this is no longer the case. Their doors are open, also and above all to work closely with communities, increasing their sense of belonging.”
Maria Mallemace is at the helm of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria and the province of Vibo Valentia, while Elisa Longo is director of Mabos, the Art Museum of the Bosco della Silaan exhibition and workshop park that hosts artists, art critics and historians, curators and enthusiasts. Marilena Cerzoso, however, is entrusted with the direction of the Brettii and Enotri Museuma permanent archaeological exhibition, but also a cultural center that hosts temporary exhibitions, concerts and institutional meetings; In the end, Maria Caterina Pietropaolo is director of the Museum and of the rock settlement of Zungri: «Creating culture in Calabria is extremely important – he comments – but also very difficult. We clash with a short-sighted mentality, which often does not understand the extraordinary nature of what our territory offers. We proceed in small steps and with “do it yourself”. It is necessary for bodies and institutions, starting from the Province and the Region, to dialogue with each other, establishing a concrete collaboration. Absolutely essential for the full valorisation of our unrivaled cultural heritage.”