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Often, as demonstrated by the book we recently reviewed in the “Libri e musei” section, terms like “change,” “reform,” “reorganization” echo like a mantra in television debates, media coverage, and pre-election speeches.
Just as often, these declarations lead to nothing or result in something that would have been better left unrealized. In this installment of our museum management section, we aim to present a successful reorganization process—one that emerged from a shared approach rather than from a theoretical or opportunistic imposition.

The interview

Network Museum – Who is Paolo Rondelli?

Paolo Rondelli – Paolo Rondelli is a cultural manager who has made versatility in interests and approach his guiding principle in life. An engineer who later rediscovered his love for history and art: he resumed studying, earned another degree, changed his professional field, and entered the cultural services sector, all while retaining the management and analytical skills he had previously acquired.

Network Museum – What is culture and what is it for?

Paolo Rondelli  – Culture is oxygen for the soul and mind; it serves to shape critical thinking, improve human beings, and enable them to contribute constructively to society. However, this is also the root of the fear that often surrounds culture. Historically, the greatest protests against the established order have emerged, especially in the 20th century, from places of culture, such as universities, where critiques of regimes or social distress have developed and progressively exploded. Just think of 1968, the Athens Polytechnic uprising, and the revolts in American campuses.
The impoverishment of the cultural system, the reduction of funds for education, and the control over the freedom of the educational system are tools used to progressively weaken the formation of critical thinking. This is often accompanied by material impoverishment, which forces people to prioritize financial survival over improving their own cultural knowledge, even when that culture is popular and deeply rooted in traditions, just to earn a little more and make ends meet.

Network Museum – What is a museum and what is its role?

Paolo Rondelli – A museum is a fantastic world, where imagination can run free while remaining rooted in reality and history. Of course, I am referring to museums in the classical sense of the ICOM definition:
“A museum is a permanent, non-profit institution at the service of society, conducting research, collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. Open to the public, accessible, and inclusive, museums promote diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically and professionally, engaging communities and offering diverse experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection, and the sharing of knowledge.”
A museum is, therefore, a place where public institutions can provide a tool for citizen growth, fostering an understanding of beauty, origins, and education in the best possible way.

Network Museum – What is museum and cultural management according to Paolo Rondelli?

Paolo Rondelli – It is the management of cultural institutions with a focus on preservation, enhancement, and research. But it is also a way to make public administrators understand that without cultural structures, a country dies, extinguishing the democracy of free thought.
For example: a State archive is a cultural institution where essential documents for that country, its history, and its foundations are preserved. If that heritage, that institution, is neglected, deprived of resources, or improperly managed, the identity of the country suffers.
A Cultural Manager must ensure that everything is enhanced, preserved, and made accessible with language suited to the general public, adapted for schools while considering different age groups. Furthermore, cultural heritage must be studied, and an engaging narrative (storytelling) must be created to guarantee accessibility for all.
An immense task, indeed.

Network Museum – What are the Cultural Institutes of the Republic of San Marino?

Paolo Rondelli – They are an entity that, since January 2015, has brought together four cultural institutions of the Republic of San Marino under the direction of the undersigned. Previously, these institutions operated separately with independent leadership. Specifically, I refer to: State Library, State Archives, State Museums, and Performing Arts.
Now, after ten years, the structure, though complex, has become a unified entity that, while maintaining the specialized characteristics of its original units, is capable of internal dialogue, experience-sharing, and the creation of joint research and/or exhibition projects.
Additionally, there is now a centralized system for administration and personnel management, leading to greater efficiency and cost control.

Network Museum – Why, when, and how were they born?

Paolo Rondelli – As I mentioned, they were established in 2015, following a legislative amendment in 2014 that unified four pre-existing operational units. This process was part of a reform of the Public Administration structure in San Marino, which reintroduced the Cultural Institutes, originally established in the 1960s but later dismantled.
At that time, they did not include the Performing Arts section, which has been operational since the mid-1980s

Network Museum – The Cultural Institutes present a particular complexity and complementarity. They also represent a system rarely found in museum and cultural realities. What organizational model has been applied? What are the positive aspects and the most challenging ones?

Paolo Rondelli – The Cultural Institutes of the Republic of San Marino were born as the fusion of four operational units that previously had little interaction with each other. In the early years, the main challenge was to create cohesion among officials from different backgrounds, which was not an easy task. Even unifying administration into a single section was a significant challenge, as each unit had its own working language, despite belonging to the broader public administration framework.
Later, three sections were established, each headed by a responsible officer, acting as the operational arm of the Director: Museums and Monuments, Performing Arts, Library and State Archives.
The three responsible officers and the Director form a coordination team, which ensures project sharing, implementation, scheduling of activities, and resource allocation, with final approval from the Director.
A critical issue, which still presents some challenges, has been creating uniformity in work methods among officials who had long been in their roles but came from distinct units with completely different operational approaches. Developing a shared mindset, creating a “we” rather than a “we and them” mentality, was a cultural transition in service of culture itself.
Another significant challenge has been the high number of personnel with personal difficulties, placed within the unit over time due to union agreements. This has led to a social buffer function, often conflicting with the need for research and cultural dissemination, particularly in certain public-facing services.
Partially, this issue has been addressed through training programs aimed at professional development, as well as the implementation of disciplinary measures when necessary.

Network Museum – How does this system communicate with the citizens of San Marino? What impact does such a cultural system have on their lives?

Paolo Rondelli – The impact is manifold. One major aspect is education. Every year, before the start of the school year planning, a catalog of activities is made available to all school administrations. Teachers can select activities for supplementary educational programs, including: Guided museum visits, Museum education projects, Theater programs tailored to different age groups, focusing on inclusion, gender equality, and civic education, Special visits linked to exhibitions, Reading activities, including sessions led by volunteer reader groups. Additionally, there is collaboration with local associations and, more recently, with accredited diplomatic representations, fostering innovative projects to introduce students and citizens to different countries with which the Republic of San Marino maintains stable relations. These projects may involve music, theater, cinema, or exhibitions.
Furthermore, the theater series has become a stable event for the local community, creating a participatory experience. Thanks to sponsorships, spectators in many performances remain after the show for shared social gatherings. This way, a theatrical performance does not end with the closing of the curtain but continues with social interactions, refreshments, and community-building around the idea of theater.
The inclusion of the State Library and the State Archives within the Cultural Institutes has also led to remarkable results in exhibitions and heritage enhancement, benefiting from their integration with the museum system.

Network Museum – What happens outside the Republic? What communication strategy have you adopted? What results have you achieved?

Paolo Rondelli – This aspect is not managed entirely autonomously, except for social media communication and traditional promotion related to the theater season in the surrounding municipalities. Communication is primarily handled by the Tourism Office, which integrates the Cultural Institutes’ activities into its event calendar and promotional efforts.
Personally, I believe that those who have recently succeeded me in managing the Cultural Institutes, after my ten-year tenure, should progressively develop greater independent promotional strategies, rather than relying solely on tourism-based communication strategies.

Network Museum – What relationships do you establish with cultural institutions, particularly museums, abroad?

Paolo Rondelli – There are permanent relationships with several universities, such as Bologna and Urbino, with the archaeological section of the CNR, and with some museum institutions, with which we are connected due to a shared collection of artifacts. All of this is primarily within Italy.
In recent years, we have begun establishing relationships with institutions in other countries, particularly thanks to the enhanced capabilities of our diplomatic network and the interfaces it has started to facilitate.
Additionally, there is a stable relationship with the La Biennale di Venezia, an important platform for San Marino’s cultural dissemination.

Network Museum – What does cultural heritage represent for the Republic of San Marino?

Paolo Rondelli – First and foremost, it represents the identity of the State, its memory, and its formation. In this sense, we can say that cultural heritage is “identity heritage.”

Network Museum – How do you view the introduction of new exhibition, educational, and communication technologies in the dissemination of knowledge?

Paolo Rondelli – I consider them very positively, and thanks to the design degree courses at our university, with which we often collaborate, we have successfully implemented them. It is a way to keep up with the times, establish greater contact with new generations, provide new perspectives for older generations, and use tools that facilitate accessibility for individuals with different or reduced abilities, such as visual or auditory impairments.

Network Museum – How do you envision the future of culture and the role of museums, especially in relation to the cultural system of San Marino?

Paolo Rondelli – I believe that if the future does not safeguard culture as a fundamental tool for identity and collective memory, without manipulations or partisan views influenced by political circumstances, there will be a progressive decline in awareness, leading to both moral and material regression.
In short, either we preserve and enhance culture, or we are lost and defeated as thinking beings.

Network Museum – Now the question related to this year’s theme: what is an intelligent museum for Paolo Rondelli?

Paolo Rondelli – I believe it is a museum in the classical sense of the term, but one that can harness technological advancements for the benefit of both operators and visitors. In other words, the perfect integration of tradition and new technologies, the future!