Palazzo Te, a Cultural Institution in Mantua

VISITORS AND CITIZENS ALIKE ARE INVOLVED IN AN ALL ROUND CULTURAL EXPERIENCE THAT VALORIZES THE PALACE AND ITS COLLECTIONS. INTERVIEW WITH MICAELA ROSSI



"Palazzo Te is not just a building that hosts art exhibits and cultural productions: the palace itself is a major work of art", says Micaela Rossi, Bocconi Class of 2013, organizational consultant and assistant to the President at the International Center of Art and Culture – Palazzo Te. Starting from this kind of awareness, the Mantuan institution has decide to give new life to the spectacle of the palace rooms designed and frescoed by Renaissance artist Giulio Romano and his collaborators in the first half of the 1500s.

➜ How do you keep this place alive?
We must think of Palazzo Te as a cultural heritage asset that everyone can enjoy. In every project we do not simply aim for maximum attendance, but we consult our scientific board to make sure that what we offer is a novel and meaningful art experience. There are two types of visitors: tourists (Italians and foreigners) and residents. The former are attracted by the artistic value of the building; the latter, on the other hand, are already acquainted with the building and must be encouraged to participate with events that reinforce the city’s bond with this place, thus restoring its vitality.

➜ What kind of activities?
Exhibits, theater performances, gastronomic events and international conferences, but also open workshops and educational projects, are what brings Mantua’s citizens back to Palazzo Te. For example, together with the choreographer Virgilio Sieni we presented a dance workshop that involved the people of Mantua; jointly with artist Stefano Arienti, we recently offered residents an experience based on sounds and visual arts.

➜ And for international visitors?
In 2016, Mantua was named Italian Capital of Culture and this investiture has givenn Palazzo Te significant visibility also abroad: thanks to ministerial funds, we managed to present a rich and varied program of exhibitions, increasing by 50% the number of visits compared to the previous year. In addition, there are strategic collaborations like those with Google Arts & Culture, which has enabled, with a 7-billion pixel camera, the full digitization of the frescoes in the Chamber of the Giants and the Chamber of Cupid and Psyche. Today, it is possible to admire the beauty of these works directly on your device at very high resolution, and appreciate the details better than in a live experience. This operation is prompting many foreign tourists to include a visit to Palazzo Te in their travel plans for Italy.

➜ What tools do you use to identify the different needs of the public?
We are working to analyze the demographics of our visitors, thanks to the information collected by our ticketing service, so as to create an ever more targeted and satisfying marketing proposition.

➜ What is the generational cohort you have the hardest time approaching?
Surely teenagers. In order to involve them, we have made them protagonists at Palazzo Te with a series of events and  collateral activities that are promoted in local high schools or through local associations: theater companies, photography groups, dance schools etc. With Melina Mulas, for instance, we created a photo contest called ‘Take a shot of something’ that ended with a photo exhibit of displaying the young adults’ works.

➜ And your presence on social media?
We are on Youtube, Vimeo, Instagram and Facebook (22,000 likes on our page). All these are essential channels to understand what really interests people. Through social network we realized that Mantuans, and not only them, want to be part of what happens in the city, and become event promoters themselves: just by posting a picture of the recently-restored facade we have had great feedback.

➜ Concerning restoration, how do you reconcile the fact of being a public institution with receiving private contributions?
In addition to government bodies, our main funders are Italian bank foundations, but also the Mantua Outlet Village, the Chamber of Commerce, ENI corporation, to name but a few. In addition to these stakeholders, active both in financing restoration works and in sponsoring exhibitions and performances, there is a committee of private citizens that raises money to help expand Palazzo Te’s art collection. The next purchase will be an original drawing by Giulio Romano.
 
 

by Ilaria De Bartolomeis
Translated by Alex Foti