European Standards Map

Italy

EMII gratefully acknowledges the help of the following people in Italy:

Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
Marco Lattanzi, Head of the Istituto per il Catalogo e la Documentazione
Matilde Amaturo, Istituto per il Catalogo e la Documentazione


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National Overview

Under Consolidated Law on Cultural Property (D. L.vo 29.1099, n. 490, art. 99) a museum is:

'any structure, irrespective of its name, organised to safeguard, enhance and make accessible cultural property collections'

Partners comment: As this definition is very recent, it has not yet been taken into account by statistics on museums. All data presented in this section is therefore based on the National Institute of Statistics defintion:

'open-to-the public cultural institutions, that research, acquire, study, exhibit and enhance objects which are considered as material evidence of culture. They have functions of public interest, concerning conservation, scientific research, education and enhancement of cultural property lying within their competence'

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Indagine statistica sui musei e le istituzioni similari, Roma, ISTAT, 1995, p. 11

State museums are governed by Law 29.10.1999, n. 490, articles 54, 98-100, 102-106, 111-117. Museums belonging to regional, provincial or municipal authorities are governed by Law 22.9.1960, n. 1080.T.

The Istituto Nazionale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD) is the national body responsible for cultural property information and documentation standards. It has to be stressed however that they are cataloguing standards regarding all kind of artefacts, irrespective of where they are located and how they are organised. Therefore they are not 'museum-oriented'.

The partner estimated that 50% (or less) of Italian museums comply with the ICOM Code of Professional Ethics. Museums are not obliged to subscribe to the code.

The total number of museums in Italy is 3,554 with collections totalling 54,381,926 objects. The ratio of public museums versus private owned and run museums is 2,512 to 1,042.

Public museums can be defined as:

'dependent on a public administration (the State, regional, provincial, (municipal autorities) or other public body.'

And private museums as:

' not dependent on a public administration (the State, regional, provincial,municipal autorities) or other public body.'

Categories of Public Museums
Total No of
Museums:		 Total No of
Objects:		 Figures are:
National n/a n/a Actual
State 462 8,730,396 Actual
Regional 85 455,251 Actual
Local Authority n/a n/a Actual
University 221 16,518,356 Actual
Military n/a n/a Actual
Provincial 73 674,559 Actual
Municipal 1,538 21,806,119 Actual
*Other 0 0 Actual
Categories of Private Museums
Total No of
Museums:		 Total No of
Objects:		 Figures are:
Independent n/a n/a Actual
Company n/a n/a Actual
Charitable Institutions n/a n/a Actual
Charitable Trusts n/a n/a Actual
Church 497 433,710 Actual
Private Associations n/a n/a Actual
Private Foundations n/a n/a Actual
Private Individuals n/a n/a Actual

Source: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Indagine statistica sui musei e le istituzioni similari, Roma, ISTAT, 1995.

Partners comments: State museums are branches of the peripheral offices of the Ministry of Culture (soprintendenze). Staff depends on the directorate general of administrative affairs while budget depends on the Ufficio centrale beni archeologici, architettonici, artistici e storici. Therefore state museums are not independent. As to museums run by regional, provincial and municipal authorities, the State retains responsibility for the protection and conservation with the relevant powers of control. However, the regions are responsible for those legislative and administrative aspects concerning the institution, organisation and the financing of regional, provincial and municipal museums and their different types of activity. Staff and budget depend on the local authority concerned.

Employment

There are 11,285 people in full time (more than 35 hours per week) employment in Italian museums, and 5,679 in part-time paid employment. A global figure cannot be indicated for volunteers. Honorary art historians, architects and archaeologists appointed by the Ministry of Culture are 700, but only a few of them work in museums. Since 1993, State Museums have employed members of volunteer associations under special conventions (estimated number: 300. In regional, provincial and municipal museums the percentage of people employed on voluntary basis is 29% in addition to staff in paid. No data for other museums are available.) Since 1991, the Ministry of Culture has also employed conscientious objectors and temporary unemployed people (paid by other administrations). A global figure concerning those working only in museums is not available.

Information Management

Percentage of cultural heritage held in Museums that is:

% Figures are:
Undocumented 63.7 Actual
Documented 36.3 Actual
Total 100%

For documented collections, what percentage is:

% Manually
only		 Manually
and
Digitally		 Digitally
only		 Figures are:
Documented to basic level1 23.5 95 n/a 5 Estimated
Catalogued in detail2 76.5 80 n/a 20 Estimated
Total 100%

(1) To national minimum standard where one exists or international alternative. (2) Catalogued beyond national minimum standard

Partners comment: The general percentage on documented to basic level (23.5) and catalogued objects (76.5) is actual. Percentage of manual and digital documentation is estimated, taking into account general data on museums IT resources and digital records of cultural property which includes also artefacts outside museums.

325 museums record information digitally.

The national cataloguing standards established by ICCD are also used to document museums collections. The following cataloguing standards for movable objects have been published: antiquities (RA), works of art and drawings (OA-D), engravings and matrix (S-MI). The following cataloguing standards are in progress: photographies (F), material ethno-anthropological objects(BDM), immaterial ethno-anthropological objects (BDI), contemporary art (OAC), scientific instruments (STS), musical instruments (SMO).

There are three levels of cataloguing: 1.livello inventarial (minimum information standard): it is a sub-system of levels 1. and 2., providing only information needed to identify the object; 2. pre-catalogo (preliminary cataloguing level): it implies direct examination of the object and more detailed information; 3. catalogo (complete cataloguing level): exhaustive scientific research with all hierarchical and contextual connections.

Images and Multimedia

There is no general Italian survey on CD-ROMS published by museums. In addition, most products on Italian cultural property have been created by others (publishers, universities,foreign institutions). 22 museums have subscribed to to Web sites with museum digital data or virtual libraries but not all of them have produced CD-ROMS. The estimated number of CD-ROMS on museum collections, museum exhibitions and single museum items, including those produced by others is approximately 30.

An estimated 110 museums have interative gallery systems.

Percentage of museums with digital images of all or part of their collections:

% of Museums: No of
Objects:		 Figures are:
Public museums 10 0 Estimated
Private museums 20 0 Estimated

Digital images were produced for the following purposes:

% of
Images:		 No of
Objects:		 Figures are:
CD-ROM Publishing 5 0 Estimated
Collections Management 20 0 Estimated
Education 30 0 Estimated
Exhibition 40 0 Estimated
Publication 0 0 Estimated
Publicity 0 0 Estimated
Security 5 0 Estimated
World Wide Web 0 0 Estimated
Other 0 0 Estimated
Museums and the Internet

447 museums have Internet access for Web browsing and email. An estimated 200 have Web sites (It is difficult to identify all Web sites because many public museums are included in their administrations sites and often at different levels). It was not possible to quantify how many museums have collections databases on-line. Most Italian museums aim only to be 'visible' on the Web at the moment. Most Web sites are brochureware only and the partner was unable to estimate the number.


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International, National and Regional Initiatives

We asked partners to describe current or recently completed international initiatives to facilitate remote access to cultural hertiage information. These can include participation in professional working groups and other EC funded projects.

[Partner to supply details]


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Procedural Standards



We also asked what Collections Management Software is in use:


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Information Management Standards

We asked about:

Content and Resource Description Standards

Term Lists in use include:

Classification Systems in use include:

Thesauri include:

Partners comment: We have translated Iconclass from English to Italian. We have a CD-ROM "Multilingual Thesaurus of Religious Objects", result of an international project, promoted by institutions that deal with cataloguing and enhancement of the cultural heritage. At the moment we don't have the number of the catalogued objects by the use of this thesaurus.

Content and Structure Description Standards

Bibliographic Description Standards in use:

At the moment the data regarding the use of HTML is not available. An estimated 200 museums have produced 395,000 digital images using the jpeg format. PCD 3,000 images The number of images relates to all the regional offices (74) of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attivit Culturali. An estimated 200 museums are using z39.50 for resource discovery (950,093). The number of resources is the actual number listed in I.C.C.D. databases.

Technological Standards and Protocols

The Italian partner was not able to answer the questions in relation to technological standards and protocols.


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Future Vision

The Italian response to our question:

'Please use this space to describe ways in which you consider EMII should develop to provide a value added resource to museums in your country. Feel free to address any aspect of our current remit or to propose new roles. You may be as detailed as you like and include references to publications, Web sites, iniatives etc. Whilst we are developing our vision for EMII's future activities we also want to ensure that we capture your needs and concerns.'

The ICCD joined EMII for the following reasons:

The benefits of continued involvement with EMII are:


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Funded by the European Commission -Education and Culture Directorate-General - Raphaël Programme

Created on 07 July 2000