Pirelli for the "Pinacoteca di Brera" Gallery
The Italian Minister for Heritage and Culture, Giovanna Melandri, Announces an Agreement Between Pirelli and the "Pinacoteca di Brera" Museum of Milan
Rome, May 24 2000 - The Italian Minister for Heritage and Culture, Giovanna Melandri, illustrated today in Rome - in the presence of Milan's Superintendent of Monuments and Fine Arts Bruno Contardi, and of Pirelli SpA's Chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera - an agreement whereby Pirelli will provide institutional support to the "Pinacoteca di Brera" Gallery of Milan.
According to the agreement, Pirelli has committed itself to supporting the Museum's activities with a significant annual contribution and other joint initiatives aimed to a further exploitation of the collection. Among these initiatives, a more specific project is dedicated to the gradual restoration of the works contained in one of Brera's main wings: the one dedicated to 16th century Venetian paintings. Initial restoring actions will be carried on the Madonna and Child by Moretto da Brescia and the Madonna and Child, St. Catherine, St. Francis and the Donor by Giovan Battista Moroni. The first painting has been entrusted to Pinin Brambilla, previously responsible for the restoration of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper.
"The policy of restoring and exploiting the entire Italian artistic and cultural heritage adopted by this Ministry is proceeding apace", declared Giovanna Melandri. "New financial resources devoted to the area in recent years have allowed significant and tangible results to be achieved. However, State financing alone will never be sufficient to guarantee the complete safeguarding of the vast Italian cultural patrimony. For this reason, the resources that private enterprise decides to invest in this field will be essential to a long-term and complete valorization of the country's incomparable artistic assets. The institutional agreement reached between Pirelli and Brera Gallery seems to be a step in the right direction and I hope that it may be considered as a model for many further instances of profitable collaboration between the public sector and private enterprise".
Two Milanese institutions, leaders in their respective fields, will be brought together by this agreement. The "Pinacoteca di Brera" is Milan's oldest art collection. Founded at the end of the 18th century and immediately housed in its present location, the collection was Italy's first public museum. In the last two years the number of visitors to the gallery has doubled, the opening hours have been significantly extended, an exhibition strategy has been adopted that allows the scientific cataloguing of the collection to continue and the Ronchey legislation has been put into effect. The collection has also been significantly enlarged and work on the new premises at Palazzo Citterio - envisioned by Franco Russoli - is finally underway. These policies have placed the gallery among the most advanced European museums, as befitting its centuries-old traditions.
"The agreement emphasises and reinforces the multiple ties between the 'Pinacoteca di Brera' and Milan, or at least the best part of the city", commented Bruno Contardi. "In contrast with other episodes of patronage, frequently associated with single initiatives or events, the "institutional support" proved by Pirelli will allow the gallery to count on an annual controbution for operating at its very best. This shows that a corporation with long-established traditions of cultural commitment such as Pirelli is concerned that the museum structure should be capable of responding to the demands of its public. The agreement also has a more general significance: it represents an important move towards the administrative, scientific and financial autonomy for certain major Italian museums demanded in historical and artistic circles for years, and which will undoubtedly be achieved thanks to the reforms of the Ministry for Heritage and Culture."
In Pirelli's perspective, the agreement is part of the group's overall cultural policy, which includes world-wide initiatives ranging from the opening of three Etruscan halls at the Louvre to participation in the La Scala Opera House Foundation, from the restoration of the Italian garden at the Victoria & Albert Musuem in London to the recent restructuring of the Capitolina Gallery in Rome.
"These initiatives", underlined Marco Tronchetti Provera, "are part of the Group's cultural tradition and its awareness of the social and civic role of a Company, which includes among its duties the contribution to the cultural growth of the countries in which it operates. In Milan - where, for obvious reasons, we are already involved in projects with other institutions - the 'Pinacoteca di Brera' was a prestigious name missing. We are convinced that our tradition of agreements with some of the world's leading cultural institutions will allow us to provide further positive developments to the Museum's activities.