Link to With twenty-two African professionals involved in workshops and residencies in Italian museums, the school confirms its role as one of the cultural pillars of the Mattei Plan. At the center of the initiative are training, cooperation, and new shared narratives between Italy and AfricaWith twenty-two African professionals involved in workshops and residencies in Italian museums, the school confirms its role as one of the cultural pillars of the Mattei Plan. At the center of the initiative are training, cooperation, and new shared narratives between Italy and Africa
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Rome, Ministry of Culture, Spadolini Hall, Friday 22 May 2026, closing day of the International School of Cultural Heritage program. Photo by Emanuele Camerini / Gramma Studio[/caption]
“The Mediterranean is not a border that can divide us.” It was around this image, evoked by Gerardo Villanacci in the Spadolini Hall of the Italian Ministry of Culture, that the 4th edition of the International School of Cultural Heritage came to a close. The advanced training program, promoted by the Ministry of Culture and the National School of Cultural Heritage and Activities within the framework of the Mattei Plan for Africa, appears to aim beyond the rhetoric of cooperation, seeking instead to build a concrete grammar of cultural exchange.
Twenty-two professionals from twelve African countries — including museum directors, curators, conservators, archivists, and heritage officials from Algeria, Angola, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, and Tunisia — took part in a program combining online training, workshops in Rome, and residencies in six Italian museums.
Link to Villanacci: “The Mattei Plan promotes intangible infrastructures”Villanacci: “The Mattei Plan promotes intangible infrastructures”
During the Rome event, institutional speakers repeatedly emphasized the idea of an equal partnership between Italy and the African continent, grounded in education and the creation of shared professional networks.
“The future of the world cannot be written without Africa,” Villanacci stated, stressing that the Mattei Plan represents “what we care about most.” According to the president of the National School of Cultural Heritage, this vision concerns not only material infrastructure but also “intangible” infrastructure: people, knowledge, and the transmission of skills.
In this sense, the school — now in its fourth edition — claims a strategic coordinating role in training within the Ministry of Culture and the broader public heritage system. “We place people at the center of every system,” Villanacci explained, recalling the involvement of Italian institutions, professionals, and museums in shaping the program.
Clemente Contestabile, diplomatic advisor to Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, outlined the initiative’s geopolitical framework, describing it as “a program that unites the two shores of the Mediterranean” through the exchange of experiences and expertise in the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage.
“Culture is a pillar of Italian society and economy, and Italy has much to offer the world,” Contestabile affirmed, placing the project within the broader cultural strategy of the Mattei Plan.
At least in the intentions expressed by institutional representatives, the approach seeks to move beyond hierarchical or paternalistic models. “We absolutely do not want to impose our vision,” the diplomatic advisor said. “Our approach begins with listening.”
The reference to the Venice Biennale emerged naturally. Contestabile mentioned the 61st edition curated by Koyo Kouoh and titled In Minor Keys, highlighting the participation of thirteen African states and the need to value cultural diversity also from an African perspective. The remark reflected a broader cultural climate in which the cultural geographies of the Mediterranean and the relationship between Europe and Africa are being redefined.
Link to Human capital training at the heart of the Mattei PlanHuman capital training at the heart of the Mattei Plan
Anna Veronica Gianasso, senior executive at the Mission Structure for the implementation of the Mattei Plan within the Italian Prime Minister’s Office, also stressed the idea of “an equal partnership built around shared needs,” recalling that since the second summit in Addis Ababa the Mattei Plan has placed human capital development at the center of dialogue between societies and cultural institutions.
“Culture goes beyond the individual project,” she explained, “and makes it possible to transform an agreement into a relationship.”
Filippo La Rosa, deputy director-general and central director for the promotion of Italian culture and language at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, focused more specifically on the role of cultural diplomacy. He described the work of Italian Cultural Institutes across Africa as “great moments of intercultural dialogue,” emphasizing culture as an instrument of soft power.
By weaving and strengthening networks of relationships, culture also holds strong strategic value, according to La Rosa: “Culture must also be viewed as a driver of socio-economic development.”
His remarks also reflected on the contemporary museum as a space for identity-building and international representation. “Africa is an enormous and multifaceted continent,” he observed, underlining how African audiences can now help redefine the ways museums present themselves and engage with communities.
Link to International School, Parisi: “The project’s perspective is situated”International School, Parisi: “The project’s perspective is situated”
The operational core of the initiative, however, remains the school itself.
The 4th edition of the International School of Cultural Heritage, titled Managing Art Collections: from ancient to contemporary. Interdisciplinary approaches for museum professionals from the Mediterranean and Africa, focused on collection management through an interdisciplinary lens, connecting archaeology, contemporary art, curatorial practices, and cultural mediation.
[gallery ids="89739,89741,89743"]Daniela Talamo, Head of the International Unit at the National School of Cultural Heritage and Activities, outlined the program, while Flavia Parisi, Senior Cultural Policy Expert at the School, explained that the initiative developed through a “situated perspective,” capable of intertwining diverse professional practices and heterogeneous cultural contexts.
After an initial online phase, the program continued with workshops in Rome and one-month residencies in several Italian cultural institutions. Participants later presented their experiences at the Ministry of Culture.
At the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), the project SEA-EMPATHY. Alternative Narratives of a Shared Mediterranean Cultural Heritage, developed by Roza Taane (Algeria) and Nagwa Abdelzaher Mohamed Bakr (Egypt), focused on creating new shared narratives of Mediterranean heritage through a thematic journey across museum collections, with particular attention to the “biography” of objects and the historical connections between the Mediterranean’s different shores.
At the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, Hafsa El Hassani (Morocco), Yanick Fredmard Mopango Etou (Republic of the Congo), Aliou Ndiaye (Senegal), and Hadjia Twahir (Kenya) presented Inheriting Alterity: Materiality and Ideas from the Ancient World to the Modern, a project dedicated to alterity and its representations in both the ancient and contemporary worlds. During the final presentation, the museum was described primarily as a space of co-creation capable of involving audiences and communities in the shared construction of heritage interpretations.
[gallery ids="89745,89747"]At the MArTA Museum in Taranto, the project Sports from Antiquity to the Present: a Perspective on the Mediterranean and Beyond, developed by Enas Ibrahim Ahmed Karim (Egypt), Zayd Ouakrim (Morocco), Daniel Haruni Chilonzi (Tanzania), and Nour El Houda Ajili Ep Arfaoui (Tunisia), forms part of the cultural program linked to the Taranto 2026 Mediterranean Games and reflects on sport as an element of cultural connection between Mediterranean civilizations, from antiquity to the present day.
The Museum of Civilizations in Rome hosted Open Dialogues – African Collections between Archives, Storage, and Contemporary Museum Practices, coordinated by El Hadji Malick Ndiaye (Senegal), Edna Neto (Angola), Grace Jessica Moyongo (Republic of the Congo), and Abubakari Iddrisu Saeed (Ghana). The project focused on the study and reinterpretation of the museum’s African collections through archives, contemporary practices, and new methodologies of shared research.
At the Archaeological Museums and Parks of Praeneste and Gabii, Soufiane Er-Rahoui (Morocco), Myriam Mahmoudi (Tunisia), Islam Ahmed Ghareeb Ahmed Farrag (Egypt), and Kasim Osumanu Mireku (Ghana) worked on Gabii Listening Map, an experimental geolocated storytelling project combining photography, poetry, and sound narratives to develop new ways of interpreting the archaeological landscape.
Finally, at the National Archaeological Museum of Agro Falisco and Forte Sangallo in Civita Castellana, Ana Soraya R. C. Marques (Angola), Gon Emile Gueu (Côte d’Ivoire), Celestino Siane (Mozambique), and Lucy Herbert Mlangwa (Tanzania) developed Reframing Objects: Intercultural Narratives from the Berman Collection, a project dedicated to the intercultural reinterpretation of the Berman Collection and its historical, colonial, and museographic layers.
The day concluded with the certificate ceremony for participants in the 4th edition of the International School of Cultural Heritage. The event captured the project’s most concrete meaning: the school represents a genuine initiative centered on exchange and cooperation among countries, grounded in a vision of culture as both an instrument of soft power and a socio-economic infrastructure.
Underlying the entire project is an idea of the Mediterranean as a space of encounter within what, as Contestabile recalled, Minister Giuli has defined as “Eurafrica.”
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