The Regional Museum of Messina is officially named after Maria Accascina.
Last March 29th, the Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity signed the decree naming it after the woman who was director of the National Museum of Messina from September 22nd 1949 to March 12th 1963 and whose tireless and tenacious work was responsible for the first significant opening to the public took place on 6 June 1954.
The proposal to name the museum after Maria Accascina, put forward by the museum management in September 2023, was supported by the regional government which expressed its appreciation given the indisputable relevance of the figure of the illustrious scholar.
Friday 5 April, at 6.30 pm, the Regional Councilor for Cultural Heritage Francesco Scarpinato and the director of the Museum Orazio Micali, in the presence of the civil and military authorities, they will make the dedication official with a short ceremony during which the professor Concetta Di Natale will hold a lectio magistralis on Maria Accascina, director of the National Museum of Messina and great historian of Italian art, curator of museums and numerous exhibitions.
“We have completed a commitment undertaken with the entire citizens of Messina on the day of the inauguration of the exhibition on the 1908 earthquake, paying due homage to the director, to the scholar, to the woman who with tenacity and tireless commitment transformed what was an indistinct accumulation of works and deposits from the destroyed city in one of the most important Italian museums. The Sicilian Region and the department that I manage are honored to be able to name a large museum, such as that of Messina, after an important figure in the history of art and at the same time a great public administration official”, these are the words of the Regional councilor for cultural heritage, Francesco Scarpinato.
Director Micali, for his part, thanks Councilor Scarpinato and the regional government and adds: “the dedication to Maria Accascina is an important step in the Museum's growth path which we hope will increasingly be a welcoming home for citizens and a center of interest for cultural activities, dialectical comparison and intergenerational encounters, open to all abilities”.
To celebrate the dedication, on Saturday 6 April, at 9.00 pm, the prose show “La tenacia di Maria” will take place in the museum premises, directed by Giovanni Maria Currò and Mauro Failla, with an adaptation by Giusi Arimatea and the interpretation of Mariapia Rizzo in the part of Maria Accascina.
The show is free and open to the public while seats last. Reservation required at number 3888110618 (9:00/20:00).