Milan archived the holidays with a figure worth more than many statements: 55,000 visitors in 41 days for the Polyptych of Monte San Martino, on display in Palazzo Marino’s Sala Alessi. A steady turnout that brought a 15th-century masterpiece by Carlo and Vittore Crivelli, rarely seen outside its original home, the church of San Martino Vescovo in the Marche municipality from which the work takes its name, back into the spotlight.
The decision to present the newly assembled polyptych played a decisive role: an opportunity for a complete reading of the work, restored in its visual and narrative unity. An operation that intercepted a wide audience, composed of regular museum visitors but also of citizens attracted by the possibility of seeing in Milan a work that is difficult to access elsewhere.
Alongside the Christmas exhibition, the city consolidated a second axis of cultural offerings, less centered on the event and more on the area.“Christmas in the Boroughs” accompanied more than 3,000 people on more than 150 free guided tours from Dec. 13 to Jan. 4, traversing 19 historical-artistic sites spread across the nine municipalities. A program that shifted the center of gravity of cultural enjoyment from symbolic places to the neighborhoods, making visible a widespread heritage often little known even by residents.
Coordination between the City of Milan, Associazione Antichi Borghi Milanesi and Civita Mostre e Musei produced an increase of 6,000 visitors compared to the previous year. A result that, as Culture Councillor Tommaso Sacchi said, confirms “the right way to increase a rich and diversified cultural offer,” based on collaboration between institutions and accessibility as a guiding criterion.
Put together, the two experiences return the image of a city that uses art as a tool for participation. The numbers tell the story of the success of an exhibition and an initiative and, together, indicate a cultural demand capable of traversing downtown and city halls, famous masterpieces and less frequented places. When the project is clear, the public responds.
