The Tazio Nuvolari Museum in Mantua, Italy, has closed. It is supposed to open again at some time in the future in a deconsecrated 8th-century church a short walk from Tazio’s villa in the city, which is now a convent. But there are mumblings that it will never reopen, although the president of the museum committee, Giancarlo Pascal, is determined to make the newly located museum a bigger, better facility with much more to offer than the old one.
Pascal says the museum’s lease on the rooms in the Palazzo del Capitano at 9 Piazza Broletto, Mantua, should have run until next Christmas, but the local authorities wanted to convert the building to their new town hall. So after some wrangling, the museum has been evicted and a sign on its door declares sadly, “The Tazio Nuvolari Museum is no longer here.”
There have been offers from the Mille Miglia Museum at Brescia to accommodate the Nuvolari collection and there was another from Tazio’s hometown of Castel d’Ario, but Pascal and his committee are adamant. “That would be like cutting out a piece of Mantua’s heart,” says the president. “Once it goes out of the town, nobody would be able to bring it back.”
So, after a lot of “give and take,” Mantua’s deconsecrated Carmelino Church, which is currently a public records office, has been accepted as the museum’s new home. There are, however, conditions. First, says the local authority, it must find another building in which to store its records, and it has not done that yet. Then, Pascal and his colleagues must raise a considerable amount of money to pay for the church’s restoration and conversion.
Meanwhile, Nuvolari’s vast number of trophies, 82 medals, honors, and awards from heads of governments all over the world, racing uniforms, leather helmets, and one of the famous gold tortoises he wore when he raced have all been locked away in a bank vault.
Submitted by Robert Newman
