The House of the Este Women

Seriously serious, with the high red hat and the profile à la Federico di Montefeltro di Piero, it is he who does the honors in the new furnishings of the house: Borso d'Este. He who made the dynasty great, in 1452 he obtained the title of Duke of Modena and Reggio from the emperor and then that of Duke of Ferrara from the Pope. Feudal lord of the empire and also of the Church, something not for everyone, so much so that he had made - for pomp, sense of power and love of culture - that magnificence of the Bible, called precisely Borso d'Este, "the Gioconda of manuscripts", which today is an absolute pride of the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena. After Borso, on the wall to the right of the new entrance that will be inaugurated in a few days, here is Isabella d'Este in Titian's portrait of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. A reproduction, of course: the walls of what until now was the first room of the Estense Gallery, dedicated to antiquities, will now welcome guests with a series of luminous totems, a timeline and information panels that tell the story of the Este family and their collections. With Isabella there is Lucrezia Borgia , or rather the Idealized Portrait of a Young Woman as Flora by Bartolomeo Veneto, a presumed portrait of Lucrezia, who entered the Este family by virtue of her third marriage to Alfonso I, and left an indelible mark on the court. Alfonso was the patron of Ariosto's Orlando furioso, and next to him is another woman of power and grace, Laura Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, who at the court of France would earn with her sisters the nickname of Mazarinettes. And again Maria Beatrice d'Este, because theirs is a local-global dynasty and Laura's daughter will marry James II Stuart, will be queen consort and called in England "Mary of Modena". Finally Francesco I, the great patron of high-ranking artists who had his portraits painted by Bernini in marble and by Velazquez in canvas. Because art is the best form of diplomacy.

Thus, in a few days, we will enter the Gallerie Estensi of the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena and the aspiration of the director, for just over a year, Alessandra Necci, is not only that of a re-staging but of experimenting with the paths of a different "narration". A word perhaps overused, in our public discourse; or, she suggests, more than anything else misinterpreted: there is instead a great need to know how to tell, to pull the threads that unite a story, a territory, a people. The Gallerie Estensi in Modena – an excellent museum, which will double in size in a year, when the work on the new plan is finished – is in fact a special place. Not a picture gallery, not a civic art gallery created for the education of the public. But the fruit of the collections of a territorial dynasty with a thousand streams and relationships that was the longest-lived in Italy after the Savoy: a lineage that left its mark on history and places, art and culture. After the Unification, that heritage became a National Museum. Old and new treasures, such as the rare collection that is about to be added, the Guandalini-Raina Kabaivanska collection consisting of 130 sculptures, mostly in terracotta: a precious gift from private individuals, and not uncommon for our public museums.

Today we risk reducing everything to 'stories, but for me 'story' means something else". History made of people, of biographies. A thread that binds

Vincenzo Trione rightly wrote a few weeks ago in the Corriere della Sera, referring to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, that in Europe a museum reorganization is done every decade: in Italy, on the other hand, we have a damaging staticity, there are museums that have been stuck in their form – which is communication – for decades. Alessandra Necci, however, recalls that the museum she directs has been reorganized and rethought in some parts already in recent years. But what she has in mind is not a makeover. Because for her, at the center of everything is the possibility of telling and having others tell. Writer, lawyer, professor of economic history at Luiss, columnist for the Messaggero with stories all about women, Cavaliere al merito della Repubblica, Chevalier des arts et des lettres de la République Française and awarded the Légion d'honneur, she has an atypical curriculum among the directors of national museums, she does not come from the conservation of cultural heritage, she is not a curator, instead she has written biographies (from dear Isabella and Lucrezia to Marie Antoinette, to her beloved Napoleon, to Talleyrand and Fouché) and has a particular passion (since she was a child, she says) for the Este family. She had applied for this museum and place of the soul, for nothing else. And so, here is the museum that tells its story. And yet: are we not suffocated by stories, by "narrations", we ask? “On the contrary, we are in a historical phase that risks the indistinct, and what is needed is not storytelling, which ultimately means fragmentation, pills, posts on Instagram. The reduction of the world to 'stories'. An individualistic triumph. Instead, for me, who have lived in books, storytelling means something else. The thread of my existence has been writing, biography. History is made of people, by people. I believe that the privilege of the biographer is to be able to 'give voice', to 'give voice back'. It is not always true that history is written by the winners, it is written by those who 'take the floor'. This is why I like to tell through people”. And through women. “History often lives on female clichés: the brioches of Marie Antoinette, the fake news of Lucrezia Borgia's poisons; hence the idea of ​​valorizing the women of Este, linking them to the theme of the territory's identity. Without forgetting the forerunner Matilda of Canossa”.

Let's go back to the Modena palace. "When I arrived, I found a job of reorganization, of interventions, of rethinking already excellently started by Martina Bagnoli, who led the Estense Pole - which, let's not forget, also included the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara, recently separated and included in the Musei Nazionali di Ferrara, of which I am interim - since the time of Franceschini's reform. I am dedicating myself to the next steps, to what is missing. Not only in my opinion, but in the opinion of our staff and visitors". For a long time, in Italy, the idea of ​​a museum was that of a slightly dusty shelving for the conservation of precious but inert materials. A place with poor accessibility and for insiders. Museums were not structured, except to a minimal extent, for public use. Then with the reform we began to think about a comprehensive cultural offering, the visitor experience, the so-called (and deprecated by many) "enhancement". And the role of directors has also changed. “I believe that today versatility, flexibility, and different skills are essential. I also have a legal background and that doesn’t hurt; managing a large museum is not a sectoral job. Another essential ingredient is teamwork: at the Gallerie I found very high competence and dedication. We live in a continuous construction site and the metaphors of work in progress, of the agora seem appropriate to me for what a museum is, which must be inclusive, at the same time open to the outside and dialogue with the actors of the territory. Without ever forgetting that at the center of everything are the collections”.

Work is underway on the new exhibition floor and restoration at the Royal Palace of Sassuolo. Skills and collaborators essential for creating a museum

But not all are the same, in history and destination. The Estensi Museums have the particularity of being multifaceted and widespread. For example, the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo is part of it, a unique jewel of a baroque palace in northern Italy, it was an obligatory stop on the Grand Tour. The southern facade has just been restored and the Peschiera will be too (“this territory is woven with waterways, the ancient streets of Modena are named after canals, it is another aspect that must be enhanced”), the park will return to its original splendor. Then there is the invaluable Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, whose digitization in 2020 (145 thousand ancient works) represented a worldwide undertaking. In addition, last year, the task of taking care of the spaces of the former Monastery of San Pietro in Modena arrived, which the Benedictine monks left to the State and which the then minister Sangiuliano indicated for the creation of a book museum. A beautiful labyrinth. "Not all formulas are suitable for every situation. These are museums of dynastic origin, they must be respected and valued in this light. I believe in the importance of places that can hold together stories, aspects, periods. The Estensi are the trait-d'union of a territory and a part of Italian history". The function of museums, another issue on which a director must reflect. “A country like ours, where Guicciardini's 'particular' has too often prevailed over the general interest, must instead know how to think in terms of a common project and vision. Material infrastructures, such as railways and roads, and immaterial infrastructures, including culture, language, and school, are indispensable. My job is to deal with what is both a material and immaterial infrastructure, a compass without which society, the community and its territories cannot exist. I like the definition of a museum given by ICOM, but I am especially tied to the 'cultural and historical heritage' of the Constitution”. Does your idea of ​​valorizing the women who were part of the Este family also come from here? “At that time, the tool for a woman to emerge – of course, those we are talking about were privileged – was culture. The Renaissance, the court, is a 'civilization of conversation' and letters, of beauty and art as a means of relationship and power. You can't understand the works exhibited here, for example the splendid collection of musical instruments, if you don't know the love for music that distinguished the Este family. And in this, women are protagonists: the 'Concerto delle dame' was the first form of completely female ensemble and was born at the Este court. Promoting this heritage also means creating a presence in the territory". Have you managed to convey this idea? After all, Modena is a secluded crossroads, it is a food capital, it is the Motor Valley, but it is not a first choice for tourist flows. "If the proposal is clear, if the museum goes out of itself to build relationships with other institutions, with the university and the school, if there is dialogue and listening, if international relationships are also woven, the response is strong. It is not just a question of museography, it is as if the soul is awakened".

From Matilda of Canossa to Lucrezia Borgia to the Bible of Borso d'Este. Precious collections tell of art and places. The soft power of the Renaissance

There is also a more general theme that is worth discussing with Alessandra Necci, a somewhat atypical director. In our country but also in others, think of Germany and France, we are experiencing a cultural, political and social phase in which finding the thread of a narrative that holds together pieces of society and a feeling of national belonging, a community, is becoming important again. But at the same time the risks of old nationalisms are just around the corner. Cultural institutions have an important task, which goes far beyond the success of the "ticket factory", of mass tourism which, among other things, is often perceived as a problem today. "Yes, there is a need for a plan, a vision. But not in the sense of sovereignism, of nationalism. But to unite, hold together, enhance living and vital places, and figures that have a high meaning for everyone. History and memory create identity and serve to build the future". Which is a bit of a leitmotif of the current “sovereignist” government, which cares a lot about the national idea, even in the use of names: the Mattei Plan, the Olivetti Plan for culture. “I am happy that we are going back to thinking in terms of a country project and that the different plans are named after people with an important role in the development of Italy. After all, I am Lorenzo Necci’s daughter. Of course, we need to ask ourselves what place we want to occupy in the world, in the Mediterranean, what relationships to build. We have the duty to honor the great personalities (all of them, though, not just some): the right way is to make their memory a channel through which an ‘infrastructure’ for today passes”.

Two exhibitions coming soon. On Matilda of Canossa, Isabella d'Este. Lucrezia Borgia; the second on women linked to Modena. They will be widespread exhibitions

Let's return here, to this great palace that also has a significant history. It was born to be the Grande Albergo dei Poveri, when in the mid-eighteenth century the enlightened princes faced the first social reforms; only after the Unification did it become the seat of the Estensi Museums. Today it therefore houses different treasures, such as the important Lapidario, the Estense University Library. Now the main construction site concerns the opening of a second exhibition floor, completely new, in the spaces of the former Estense Hospital, a '9.6 million intervention aimed at expanding the collections and the Art Library, and also educational and functional spaces and laboratories and multimedia services. Making "infrastructure" and "story" proceed hand in hand is the task and ambition of Alessandra Necci. “So we are planning two exhibitions on the women of the House of Este: the first on Matilda of Canossa, Isabella d'Este. Lucrezia Borgia; the second on women linked to Modena, including Laura Martinozzi and others from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries”. And they will be widespread exhibitions. The strategic vision is important, even if one must not lose sight of the detail: “Multiplex et multiformis”, as Yourcenar says in the Memoirs of Hadrian, she likes to repeat. Because the narrative theme of the Este family is also the theme of the management of power, of which the Bible of Borso d'Este, today kept in a highly secure safe, is the symbol par excellence. “A cultural power that today we call soft power, but which is art, patronage, collecting, dialogue, relationships, cultural diplomacy. I believe that the work of our museums is in line with what the Faro Convention establishes on the connection of cultural heritage with human rights and democracy, on the right to (as well as of) cultural heritage. If on the one hand culture is the immaterial glue of civilizations, on the other, as Gramsci said, it is necessary for the construction of the self”.

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