Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli was at the helm of MAXXI for almost two years.

MAXXI, Italy’s National Museum of 21st Century Arts, saw ticket sales fall by 30 per cent last year under its former president Alessandro Giuli, according to La Repubblica.

Giuli, 49, became Italy's culture minister last month, replacing Gennaro Sangiuliano who resigned after becoming embroiled in a scandal over a consultant role for his former mistress.

In November 2022, Giuli succeeded the centre-left former culture minister Giovanna Melandri as president of the contemporary art and architecture museum designed by Zaha Hadid.

With a background in journalism with right-leaning newspapers, Giuli came under scrutiny at the time for his lack of experience in cultural heritage management.

According to an auditors' report for MAXXI for 2023, as reported in a hard-hitting article by La Repubblica, the Giuli era heralded a free fall in the Rome museum's economic performance.

Compared to the final year of Melandri’s decade-long presidency, revenues from ticket sales plunged from €2.5 million to €1.9 million, the equivalent of a 30 per cent drop.

Other revenues suffered a similar fate, falling from €3.9 million to €2.4 million, while sponsorship deals at the museum reportedly fell by a whopping 44 per cent.

The downfall was linked largely to "a lack of a strategic vision", according to a respected but unnamed museum curator who told La Repubblica: “Sponsorships are decided based on the following year’s programming, exactly what Giuli did not do.”

The museum's alleged misfortunes under Giuli were aggravated - the curator claims - by another signficant factor: "The relationships between MAXXI and other museums, both national and international, have disappeared."

Under Melandri's leadership, between 2012 and 2022, works from the MAXXI collection went on tour abroad as part of successful travelling exhibitions, a tradition allegedly discontinued by Giuli.

A recently opened immersive exhibition at MAXXI, Passeggiate Romane (Roman Walks), was poorly received by critics, La Repubblica reports, despite its setting by Oscar-winning art designer Dante Ferretti.

Last year Giuli was forced to apologise after the then culture undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi was filmed delivering a foul-mouthed sexist rant during a cultural event at the museum.

The cost of staffing at MAXXI also reportedly rose during Giuli's tenure, from €1.6 million to €2.1 million, fuelled by eight new permanent hires and the arrival of consultants and collaborators who were "not always experts", according to La Repubblica.

A flamboyant figure with a penchant for lofty speeches, Giuli worked closely with MAXXI secretary general Francesco Spano who he recruited this week as his new chief of cabinet at the culture ministry in Rome. 

MAXXI is currently headed by interim president Maria Emanuela Bruni, an art historian and journalist, who in 2008 became the first woman to serve as head of protocol at the prime minister's office in Palazzo Chigi.

Asked to comment on the "MAXXI flop" article in La Repubblica, Giuli told reporters on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday: "The numbers speak for themselves, the real ones".

MAXXI is experiencing "a golden age, with the highest number of visitors since it was founded" - Giuli claimed - "The fact that there was a transition semester compared to the previous governance in 2023 is not a problem."

"I don't blame the previous management for having left a programming and budget that were a bit so-so" - Giuli added - "But I still accept the criticism and I'm waiting for everyone to see the numbers, the real ones."

Photo credit: DFLC Prints / Shutterstock.com.