Presentation of the Civic Museum System

On March 1st 2005, the Municipality of Rome sanctioned the establishment of the Civic Museums Group, which, as well as Capitoline Museums, consists of the Montemartini Centre, the Museum of Roman Culture, the Planetarium and the Astronomical Museum, Trajan’s Markets and Forum, the Museum of Rome, the Napoleonic Museum, the Museum of Rome in Trastevere, MACRO, with its two locations in the Via Reggio Emilia and the Old Slaughter House, the Canonica Museum, the Museums of the Villa Torlonia (the House of the Owls and the House of the Princes), the Museum of the Walls, and the Barracco Museum, which will be opening shortly.

The Civic Museum System of Rome, then, overcomes the previous fragmentation and guarantees to those museums belonging to the system a uniquely high standard of quality, in both large and small matters, establishing profitable economies of scale.
All the sites are provided with services to encourage the reception and achievement of these aims, including electronic ticket offices, educational materials and editorial productions. The museums’ attractions are increased by the numerous exhibitions they host, which provide another reason for visiting them.
The Capitoline Museums are the centrepiece of the System, both from the point of view of their prestige and the number of visitors they receive each year, and are the starting point for the new management model entrusted to the Zètema Progetto Cultura, an organisation entirely supported by the Municipality of Rome.
The new management contract came into existence as an extension of the model of global service tried out in the Capitoline Museums from 2000 to 2005 to the other municipal museums. It is it intention of the Municipal Administration to construct a net of museums which allows the activation of a drive for quality, productivity and service.
The introduction of integrated management of the services of the civic Museums of the capital has several important objectives.
From an organisational point of view, the initiative involves the introduction of an homogenous policy list (cards, conferences, etc) and a program of exhibitions and events planned for many years.
As regards the promotion of the museums, the aim is to construct a marketing plan well integrated with the tourism sector.
As regards social and economic development, the new management allows great attention to the qualitative and quantitative growth of the cultural tourism of Rome and the occupational development of the sector, and through the opening of new museum spaces encourages the growth of cultural possibilities.

The services considered inside the Civic Museum system are: reception and ticket offices; promotion and communication; book shops and publishing services; organisation of events (exhibitions and out of hours openings); educational resources; cafeterias; cleaning and maintenance; public assistance and care.
For a complete and exhaustive survey of the services provided inside the Roman Civic Museum System it is necessary to start from the first encounter that the public has with the museum structure: their reception and the ticket office. This service provides orientation and information, both at the museum itself and through a call centre (tel. 06 82059127), with the aim of ensuring the best possible use of the museum sites. A single telephone number is provided for the public for information and booking. A unique system of electronic booking is also being planned, which would centralise and optimise a basic booking and advance sales system for citizens and tourists.
Promotion and communication are achieved in a series of ways: publicity activities aiming at making Rome’s “Civic Museum System” better known; the distribution of information leaflets from the 22nd December (some will have a general description of the Civic Museums System, others will be specifically designed for every member of the museum structure. The latter are a fundamental support for a detailed and exhaustive visit to every museum); external signs for all the museums, which have been on display since the inauguration of the new wing of the Capitoline Museums and are characterized by a shared logo which makes the unified structure of the whole system immediately obvious. The new graphic and conceptual identity of the “MuseinComune” plays on the double meaning of the expression “in comune”, which in one sense means the city as a geographical entity, where the entire museum system exists, in another goes directly to the heart of the idea of a museum that belongs to everyone.

The portal (www.museiincomuneroma.it) is also constantly updated. It allows users another method of communication, allowing them to connect through various links to the sites of all the museums in the System.

It is also intended to create a series of short guides to all the museums which are currently part of the group, as well as to produce in depth thematic pamphlets and scientific catalogues. A competition for the printing of editorial products for the Civic Museum system has recently been judged, as a result of which the Electa publishing house will produce specific volumes for every site, as part of a unique editorial series in a wide selection of languages.
The first guide in the series is devoted to the Capitoline Museums and also includes a section on the museum extension. It was presented on the 22nd December.
Within the System Zètema also looks after the sale of publications which are useful for cultural promotion through a net of bookshops, at the Capitoline Museums, the Museum of Roman Culture, the Planetarium, MACRO, and the Museum of Rome in Trastevere. The Capitoline Museum bookshop, with its two branches in the Palazzo dei Conservatori and the Palazzo Caffarelli is particularly important, not only because of its central location and cultural and political panorama. It offers a wide selection of books on the history of Rome, from archaeological to modern times, including story books, art, architecture, essays, imported books, ancient literature, publications for young people, illustrated books and books on design, fashion, photography and catalogues of the main exhibitions, as well as a vast gamut of museum merchandise.
The foundation services support the primary activities of this net of museums, which is based on giving Rome’s cultural heritage its full value. In complement to this the Municipal Administration, in collaboration with Zètema, has planned and realised a series of cultural initiatives, exhibition projects, conference cycles and other means of promoting the cultural heritage.
Here, then, is the program of events, sometimes synchronised with other relevant local agencies, inside the Civic Museum System.
From the 1st March 2005, with the start of the Civic Museum System, educational activities for schools (visits and workshops) are free in all the museums of the System. Educational resources are available in other languages for groups at a cost.
Audio guide services will also shortly be increased (in a number of languages); the first will be available at the Villa Torlonia from the 20th Dicember.

As well as all these new initiatives, Zètema continues to guarantee custodial, maintenance and cleaning services.