“We are very sorry not to have received any invitation to the inauguration of the museum despite the fact that for 11 years in the area we have worked a lot on the lighthouse, on its history and on the dissemination of its history and that of Guglielmo Marconi”, so in a social post the association of residents of San Cataldo.
This afternoon the inauguration of the “Radio Museum” and the “Museum of lighthouses and coastal towers of Puglia” is scheduled, built in a portion of the ground floor of the lighthouse following a restoration and refunctionalization of the building.
The works, for a total amount of 510,000 euros, were carried out as part of the “CoHeN – Coastal Heritage Network” project, financed by the 4th targeted call for strategic projects of the Interreg V/A Greece-Italy Program 2014-2020, of of which the Puglia Region is the only Italian partner. The project, carried out in synergy with the Navy, promoted cross-border cooperation for the creation of a new Adriatic-Ionian itinerary: in Puglia the restoration, refunctionalisation and construction of some lighthouses and coastal towers allowed the creation of the first public network of maritime architecture, conceived as exhibition and information places for learning about topics related to the sea and the identity of coastal landscapes.
The inauguration will be attended by the regional councilor for personnel and organisation, delegate of the president of the Puglia Region, the municipal councilors for Culture and Public Works, the commander of the Taranto Lighthouse Area Command Carlo Schena, the coordinator of the biblio-museum centers – Department Tourism, Economy of Culture and Promotion of the territory of the Puglia Region Luigi De Luca, the president of the Italian Radio Amateurs Association – Bari Section Francesco Cozzi and the collector Alberto Chiantera.
The event will be enriched by the musical intervention of the Presidio Fanfare, the presence of an information stand of the Navy and a speech by Nicolò Carnimeo, writer and professor of navigation law at the University of Bari, entitled “The human progress in the name of science and the protection of life at sea”.
The new museums
The museum spaces have been set up with information panels, multimedia supports, furnishings (chairs, desks, screens, meeting table) and with some of the pieces that will be exhibited to the public, coming from the Verona Radio Museum, owned by the Chiantera family.
Inside the redeveloped spaces, visitors will therefore have the opportunity to learn about the history of radio and the first radio transmissions, and therefore the figure of Guglielmo Marconi, who made the first radiotelegraphic connection over the air with Montenegro on 3 August 1904 from lighthouse of San Cataldo, as well as the history of lighthouses and coastal towers in Puglia.
