A bitter battle over museum ticketing services in Florence has sparked protests and legal challenges, with unions accusing Italy’s culture ministry of prioritising profits over jobs. Amid ongoing strikes and political outcry, an Italian court has upheld a decision to entrust ticketing at some of the city’s most visited museums, including the Gallerie degli Uffizi and the Galleria dell’Accademia, to a new provider.
For 21 years, Opera Laboratori Fiorentini, a major museum services company employing 1,000 people, managed ticketing, outreach and bookshops at the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, Opificio delle Pietre Dure (a renowned art restoration institution) and the Polo Museale Regione Toscana, which includes the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence. But in May 2023, the firm lost a public tender to Coop-Culture, a services company that already oversees ticketing at Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli and the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Sicily.
In January, the regional administrative court for Tuscany rejected appeals against the decision by Ati Giunti Editore, the publishing house that owns Opera Laboratori and Primo Nomine, a Spanish services provider that ranked second in the tender. CoopCulture was expected to sign a five-year contract in early March worth €121,000 per year.
A further appeal by a third company, Vivaticket, is still pending, and Opera Laboratori and Primo Nomine are reportedly considering taking their case to the Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court.
Since winning the bid, CoopCulture has announced that it would reabsorb only some of Opera Laboratori’s Florence employees working at the four museums, under the same contractual conditions. Other workers would be re-employed by a separate provider under identical salaries. CoopCulture is also expected to eliminate a €4 ticket booking charge, previously used to finance additional staff needed to keep some museum rooms open.
The proposed changes have sparked unrest. In November, dozens of museum workers protested outside Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. “Guarantees for the continuity of full employment, pay, and contracts for all employees need to be made,” trade unionists said in a press statement at the time.
Legal appeals pending
Meanwhile, uncertainty looms over the Galleria dell’Accademia and the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, which were brought under single management last year. The culture ministry revoked Opera Laboratori’s ticketing contract for these institutions last summer, raising concerns about the future of 90 additional workers. Ales, an in-house services provider for the culture ministry, has been selected to take over ticketing operations.
In contrast with its previous ruling, on 9 October, the regional court upheld a separate appeal by AtiGiunti Editore against the selection of Ales, ruling that Opera Laboratori should continue overseeing ticketing until a scheduled public hearing on 5 March. Ati Giunti Editore argued that appointing a separate company for ticketing alone would lead to a decline in overall service quality.
The opposition Democratic Party has accused the government of using cultural heritage as a cash cow. “We have submitted numerous demands for clarification from [culture] Minister Giuli, without receiving adequate answers,” said Laura Rimi and Giachi Cristina, regional Democratic Party councillors, at a November protest. “We are increasingly concerned about the government’s inadequate management of cultural heritage.”
Opera Laboratori tells The Art Newspaper it will not comment until the court has ruled on Vivaticket’s appeal. At the time of writing, CoopCulture had not responded to a request for comment.