Sicily has inaugurated a brand new museum devoted to civic resistance in opposition to organised crime, marking 33 years because the assassination of the anti-Mafia decide Giovanni Falcone. The Museum of the Current, which opened on 23 Could contained in the historic Palazzo Jung in Palermo, commemorates Mafia victims whereas confronting the continued risk posed by Cosa Nostra.
The opening ceremony within the Sicilian capital was attended by Italy’s inside, justice and tradition ministers, together with the presidents of the Sicily area and the nationwide anti-Mafia fee. The curator Alessandro de Lisi mentioned 500 visitors took half whereas 3,000 folks had booked visits for the museum’s first week. Entry will stay free till 19 July, the anniversary of the homicide of Falcone’s colleague and shut pal Paolo Borsellino.
On 23 Could 1992, Falcone was killed in a motorway bombing outdoors Palermo that shocked Italy and the world. Cosa Nostra operatives detonated 500kg of explosives beneath the A29 as Falcone’s convoy travelled from the airport. The blast killed him, his spouse Francesca Morvillo and three police escorts. The Capaci bloodbath, because the assault is understood, grew to become a nationwide trauma and a turning level in Italy’s struggle in opposition to organised crime.
Horrified residents poured into the streets, sparking a motion that led to a wave of arrests and trials. But, whereas Cosa Nostra’s grip weakened, it has not vanished. Final February, police arrested greater than 180 suspected clan members in a single operation, exposing how the syndicate is regrouping with a brand new, tech-savvy era. De Lisi famous that, even immediately, the struggle in opposition to the mafia is just not over—a actuality he mentioned was mirrored within the museum’s title. “You possibly can’t create a museum of historical past if the phenomenon you’re exploring nonetheless exists,” he mentioned.
Multimedia set up
The museum occupies 3,000 sq. m in an 18th-century constructing that after belonged to feudal barons and was later bought to Swiss-Jewish retailers. Shows embrace private gadgets corresponding to Falcone’s favorite pen—damaged by the blast and later repaired—and his assortment of mannequin ducklings. Borsellino’s bicycle is suspended from the ceiling. Artefacts from the 1986-87 Maxi Trial—which led to the conviction of 338 Mafia members—together with a photocopier used to duplicate 1000’s of courtroom paperwork, are additionally on view.
A multimedia set up recreates the Capaci explosion by archive footage, audio recordings and a visceral reconstruction of the blast. The go to ends with a mirrored wall bearing the phrases: “Now it’s your flip.”
The museum’s core part spans over a century of Mafia violence and resistance, from the 1909 assassination in Palermo of the Italian American NYPD officer Joe Petrosino to the 2023 arrest—and loss of life—of the Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who had spent three a long time in hiding.
Even earlier than its opening, the undertaking attracted help. In Could, it obtained a €20,000 grant from Italia Patria della Bellezza, a Milan-based basis that funds neglected cultural initiatives. De Lisi, who has collaborated extensively with the Falcone Basis, beforehand curated a city-wide artwork undertaking symbolising the Mafia’s impression on Palermo’s city and ethical material. He additionally gained nationwide consideration in 2015 for staging a significant Caravaggio present in a Camorra-confiscated villa close to Naples.
Curator Alessandro de Lisi hopes to convey Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath to the brand new museum
Courtesy Galleria Borghese
His present ambition is to convey Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath (1605) to the museum as soon as the portray concludes its run at a Rome exhibition. “It will be a homage to Paolo Borsellino,” he mentioned. “It symbolises the energy of the susceptible to beat worry.”
