Rome’s Maxxi museum, Italy’s foremost public contemporary art museum, has appointed a new interim president less than a week after a dentistry teacher was chosen for the role, unleashing a wave of disapproval from those who felt she was not up to the job.
Emanuela Bruni, an art historian and journalist, was named interim president of the Maxxi museum's foundation on Wednesday evening. She replaces Raffaella Docimo, a dentistry teacher, whose appointment last week had been criticised by politicians and art experts.
Resignation of Giuliano Sangiuliano
The controversy erupted following the dramatic resignation of Giuliano Sangiuliano, who left his role as culture minister last week after his office allegedly paid for Maria Rosaria Boccia, a former wedding planner with whom Sangiuliano was having an extramarital affair, to travel on official business, granting her access to confidential meetings she filmed with smart glasses with inbuilt cameras.
Sangiuliano was replaced as culture minister last weekend by Alessandro Giuli, who had been serving as the Maxxi foundation’s president. Docimo had been appointed to the foundation’s board by Sangiuliano last year. She replaced Giuli as president in accordance with the foundation’s statute, which indicates that the most senior board member should take the role if nobody is appointed, the ANSA news agency reports.
Just two days later, Docimo announced that she would withdraw, claiming the role of president was incompatible with her work as a full time professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata university. Italian media reported that Giuli had convinced her to step down.
Who is Raffaella Docimo?
Docimo’s record—especially her CV, which lists no previous leadership roles at a museum and describes Modern and contemporary art as a “hobby”—had come under intense scrutiny. A member of the Amici per Maxxi association, a donors club, from 2016 to 2023, she stood in the European elections with Brothers of Italy, the party led by prime minister Giorgia Meloni, in May, coming seventh. Shortly after announcing her candidacy, Docimo said in an interview: “minister Sangiuliano has been my friend since my high school days in Naples”.
Alessandro Caramiello and Pasqualino Penza, two parliamentarians for the opposition Five Star Movement, said in a statement that “being a dentist [Docimo is] far removed from a background in the humanities”. Reacting to her appointment at the Maxxi, Boccia wrote on Instagram sarcastically: “another CV that looks fit for the role… the right wing’s sense of culture [is] a dentist at the Maxxi”.
Alessandra Ferrini, a contemporary artist and researcher, tells The Art Newspaper: “Obviously, dentists have nothing to do with contemporary art”. She added: “It is absurd that such appointments come directly from the ministry, which always opens the way to attempts to influence the agenda”.
Bruno Vespa, Italy’s most famous television presenter, described Docimo on his prime time programme as “an innocent victim” of Sangiuliano's demise.
The newspaper La Repubblica reports that Boccia met Sangiuliano at one of Docimo’s electoral events in Naples a year ago. In a press note, Docimo claimed: “With respect to what has been erroneously reported … by some press and media organisations, out of a duty of correct information I would like to clarify that I never introduced former Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano to Dr. Boccia… simply because I did not know her.”
Giorgia Meloni's previous appointments
Previous museum managers appointed by Meloni’s government have also been portrayed as unqualified. These include Angelo Crespi, a former art critic and journalist, who became director of Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera last year, and Renata Cristina Mazzantini, an architect and interior designer, who became director of Rome’s Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in the same round of appointments.
The appointment of Giuli, a former journalist who failed to graduate from the Sapienza University in Rome, to the role of president of the Maxxi foundation in 2022 also drew criticism at the time. Like numerous members of Italy's current coalition government, including Meloni, Giuli was a member of the Fronte della Gioventù, a far-right youth organisation, during his teens.