Work in progress even though it’s been months since a bricklayer has entered the Rocca. A problem that Mayor Andrea Biancani is well aware of: “The first thing I did when I sat down in the mayor’s chair? Immediately ask for a meeting with the regional managers of the State Property Agency for the Rocca Costanza issue, but not only that. Because I would also like to understand the situation of all the other assets that the State has in the city”, says the new mayor. Who adds: “I asked for an appointment and the answer arrived today. We will talk about the Rocca on the 8th of this month, that is, in a week. This is also to understand, given that there is a construction site inside, how the spaces can be used both in the internal square and under the loggia. Also the use of the moat area”.
Responsible, in theory, for the regional museum system that also includes Rocca Costanza, Luigi Gallo, the man who runs the Ducal Palace of Urbino and the art gallery. “I went to visit it with the heads of the State Property Office and the Superintendence – he says -, but I’m not operational yet because the implementing decrees are missing. However, we have some ideas already in the pipeline such as the creation of a museum on the history of the Rocca, in the spaces at the back left where there are also some frescoes. We are thinking about a museum focus. The projects, or rather the ideas are there, also because the spaces are large, but in order not to limit people’s entry, an emergency exit is needed, which is in the projects. The timing? I really can’t say…”.
One of the most active, also on social media about Rocca Costanza is Pierpaolo Loffreda, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino. “The Rocca di Senigallia has been open for years, as has the one in Rimini and there are many castles around Italy that are accessible – he says -. And there is no need for emergency exits because by law if you get up to 100 people, which is enough for a classical music concert or a film screening there are no problems. You don’t have to organize a Vasco Rossi concert inside. Here 35 years have passed since the Rocca was freed from prison, and from children we have all become adults and there are even those who have had children. I don’t know if we will be able to open it and make it visitable for the summer, but certainly the time is very tight even though we have had 35 years of time”.
Giulia Marchionni of Pesaro Svolta, of the opposition councilor makes (laughing) a prediction… “they will surely be able to get the permits to do the Palio dei bracieri. For the rest, what do you want me to say? After years of vaunted friendships with the former Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, the former mayor Ricci has brought home nothing. Perhaps if he had collaborated a little more with the Region we would have made some progress. In any case, I know that the undersecretary Albano who has the delegation to the State Property is interested in the future of the Rocca. We’ll see…”.
To make a comparison outside of political labels: Mayor Gnassi of Rimini of the Democratic Party. Rocca Malatestiana: the feasibility project for the Fellini museum is from 2018; the definitive project is from July 2019; the executive project is from October 2019. It opened in the summer of 2021. It’s not exactly 35 years.
m.g.
