After the unexpected Easter overtaking – 21,850 visitors Royal Museums between March 29 and April 1, compared to 20,710 on Egyptian museum — now the head-to-head becomes as exciting as a Sinner-Djokovic match. For the long weekend at the end of April, e Mario Turetta — interim director of the Royal Museums — has thrown down the gauntlet to the hegemony of the Egizio, which has since time immemorial held Turin’s record for annual, monthly, weekend and public holiday attendance.
I say “Turin” because at Easter the absolute record, with 22,329 presences, went to Venaria.
Turetta had been very bullied for the Easter performance of the Royal Family, «the most visited museum in Turin» (“without taking into account the free admissions to the gardens”, he assures me). He repeated it again the other day, presenting the new archaeological route next to the Cathedral and the exhibition on the cult of Isis at Industria, the last – in chronological order, after the exhibitions of Guercino and Leonardo – among the pieces of heavy artillery that the competitive Mario deploys with the clear objective of consolidating Easter supremacy over the Egyptian between 25 April and 1 May.
What if Evelina Christillin and Christian Greco they open them celebrations for the two hundred years of their museum with the new display of the statues in the Gallery of the Kings, Turetta counters with the three centuries of the Museum of Antiquitiesa tricentennial perhaps a bit far-fetched but to be celebrated with the various art shows of the usual «Royal Summer» promptly renamed for the occasion «Together for the 300 years of the Museum of Antiquities».
To the Egyptian — from above the million attendances in 2023, an absolute record for a Turin museum — at least on the surface they don’t seem annoyed, much less worried. They just don’t acknowledge receipt. On the other hand, on an annual basis, the gap remains abysmal: last year the Royals, despite strong growth, stopped at 624,900 visitors, even surpassed by the 755 thousand of the Cinema Museum. But SuperMario only arrived last December, sent by the Ministry of Culture to “temporarily” replace the outgoing director Enrica Pagella: let’s say that Marione is taking the assignment very seriously, and waiting for an unknown one to be identified as soon as director moves as if he were destined to stay in that armchair for a long time, and not just to keep it warm.
Turetta is also close to retirement: and who would mind, after a career at the top ministerial level, exiting the scene triumphing over the battleship of the Egyptian Museum?
Be that as it may, it is a noble competition: if SuperMario and the Greek play it out to see who makes the most entries, whoever wins, Turin will win.
