On Thursday 22 and Friday 23 May 2025, the ANMLI conference ‘Museum and democracy’ will be held in the Sala Chilesotti at the Museo Civico of Bassano del Grappa. The packed programme of the two-day study event will address, together with museum directors, curators, researchers and representatives from local institutions, the highly topical theme of the democratic conception of museums, understood not only as guardians of the cultural heritage and divulgers of knowledge but also as agents of change involved in promoting active citizenship.

Must the museum necessarily be a democratic institution? And what role does, or should, the museum have as a bulwark of democracy?

The Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Locali e Istituzionali (ANMLI), a national association of local and institutional museums founded in 1950 to promote and safeguard the artistic, historic and scientific heritage owned by or the pertinence of local and institutional bodies, together with other museum associations and intellectuals, will address these themes. Through interesting case studies of Italian museums, it will examine how the concept of ‘democracy’ can and should be articulated in the museum context and what path to take in contributing to and cultivating a democratic notion of the museum. To this end the conference will aim to draw up a shared document which can then become a focus for discussion among all cultural institutions.

The in-person event will be held in the Sala Chilesotti at the Museo Civico. Free admission subject to seating capacity. No booking required. The conference will be streamed live on the YouTube channel of the Musei Civici.

Promoted and organized: ANMLI (Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Locali e Istituzionali), Comune e Musei Civici di Bassano del Grappa
Under the patronage: ICOM Italia (International Council of Museums)

 

---

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

---

Thursday 22 May 2025

---

↘
14:00 – Welcome

Nicola Ignazio Finco, Mayor. Comune di Bassano del Grappa
Giada Pontarollo, Executive councillor for culture, Comune di Bassano del Grappa
Francesca Meneghetti, Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Provinces of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza
Anna Maria Montaldo, President of ANMLI (Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Locali e Istituzionali)

↘
14:30 – Introduced by
Curated by: Anna Maria Montaldo, President of ANMLI (Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Locali e Istituzionali)

↘
15:00 – Speakers

Pierluigi Sacco, Professor of Biobehavioral Economics, University of Chieti-Pescara
Museums and active cultural participation: a possible combination?

Michele Lanzinger, President of ICOM Italia (International Council of Museums)
To be or not to be, is this the definition?

Antonio Lampis, Director, Dipartimento Cultura italiana, Sviluppo economico della Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige
Democracy and museums (remote)

Denis Isaia, Deputy Director, Ufficio Collezioni, MART Rovereto
Experiments in museum democracy: aspirations and reality

Claudio Rosati, member of the advisory committee of the Società Italiana per la Museografia e i Beni Demoetnoantropoligici (SIMBDEA)
Museums of places

Massimiliano Zane, cultural planner and consultant in the economics of culture
How are cultural organisations responding to the ‘democratic digital revolution’? (remote)

↘
18:00 – Concluding remarks and debate
Curated by: Paola Marini, art historian
 

---

Friday 23 May 2025

---

The second session is devoted to analysing significant and concrete ‘cases’ which, in their implementation or design, have put into practice, or aim to do so, the role that the museum should have as a mediator of democracy. First-hand accounts of concrete actions, or of significant projects pursuing such a mission, and likewise the desired or achieved results, will be useful in helping colleagues and the public to grasp the potential implications and effects of these actions.
 
↘
10:00 – Introduced by
Curated by: Barbara Guidi, Director of the Musei Civici of Bassano del Grappa

↘
10:15  – Speakers

Francesca Rossi, Director of the Musei Civici of Verona
The Musei Civici of Verona as bulwarks of cultural democracy in a tourist city

Alessandro Furiesi, Director of the Museo Civico of Volterra
A pebble in the pond. A participatory pathway for the Pinacoteca of Volterra

Serena Bertolucci, Director of M9, Mestre
Accessibility to memory as a driving force of democracy. The vision of M9

Davide Quadrio, Director of MAO, Musei di Arti Orientali di Torino
#MAOtempopresente (remote)

Sergio Riolo, Director of the Museo dell’Archivio Storico of the Fondazione Banco di Napoli
The belly of the archive

Bianca Aravecchia, Conservator, MUDEC, Milan
Colonialism, accessibility and diaspora cultures. The challenges of a museum of cultures

↘
12:30 – Concluding remarks and debate
Curated by: Barbara Guidi, Director of the Musei Civici of Bassano del Grappa
 

---

↘
14:00 – Round table
Moderator: Franco Marzatico, Superintendent, Provincia Autonoma di Trento

Alberta Campitelli, President of the advisory committee for the Musei del MIC (remote)
Fausto Barbagli, President, Associazione Nazionale Musei Scientifici
Claudio Rosati, member of the advisory committee of the Società Italiana per la Museografia ei Beni Demoetnoantropoligici (SIMBDEA)
Michele Lanzinger, President of ICOM Italia (International Council of Museums)
Anna Maria Montaldo, President of ANMLI (Associazione Nazionale dei Musei Locali e Istituzionali)

↘
16:30 – Conclusions and drafting of the conference document by all the participating museum associations