It’s a journey that starts from Ancient Rome, with a Pompeian inscription that preludes the Italian vernacular, and then continues with prestigious relics such as Il Placito capuano (in which we have the first official testimony of the Italian language) and the Riccardiano manuscript 1035, a hand-made copy by Giovanni Boccaccio of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
This is MUNDI, the museum dedicated to the Italian language housed in the former monastery of the Santissima Concezione spaces, in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The name of the museum is indeed suggestive. On one hand the name refers to the link with Latin (Mundi is the genitive of Mundus), on the other to Italian as a global language.
At the inauguration of the first two rooms, held on July 7, there were VIP’s such as the minister of culture Dario Franceschini and the mayor of Florence Dario Nardella. The creation of the museum was supervised from a working group led by the philologist Luca Serianni, in collaboration with the leading institutions of the Italian language and culture
such as the Accademia Nazionale della Crusca and the Società Dante Alighieri.
The purpose of Mundi will be to enhance awareness of the Italian language, both nationally and internationally, in its literary and cultural aspects. It is proposed as a new generation of museums, where alongside objects, books and manuscripts, we have multimedia with technological devices such as plasma screens and sensitive panels, with the aim of enriching the thematic itineraries offered.
In the future there will be temporary thematic exhibitions alongside educational activities and various events such as conferences, concerts and seminars, in a 2,000 sqm space.
While awaiting the definitive museum opening in 2023, the public can visit two sections that will remain open until October 6, with free admission.
