After the “virtual” inauguration on November 1st,2020, in the exact day of the 120th anniversary of the birth of the first sports association in the city of Palermo, now finally the Palermo Museum is ready to welcome enthusiasts, onlookers and rosanero fans, thanks to the easing of the restrictions for anti-covid safety regulations.
Starting on July 1st, 2020, people will be able to access the museum, which celebrates the history of the team, located in the premises of Renzo Barbera stadium. But already from the 24th of June it will be possible to buy tickets online in the section dedicated to the Palermo Museum on palermofc.com, or directly on Vivaticket.com, but also physically in every Vivaticket sales point spread across the entire country.
In the initial phase, the museum will be open every week on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, in three visit schedules: 12:00/13:00 – 16:00/17:00 – 17:00/18:00 (holidays not included). The price for the entrance ticket, which includes a guided tour of about 50 minutes, is 7 euros (full price), and 5 euros (people under 14 and over 65), with courtesy fees or discounts for special categories. All the details, rules, and link to buy the tickets will be available on palermofc.com. In the fall, it is expected to also have a project of direct participation of the city’s schools and already active discussions with tour operators of the city.
It took more than one year of hard work, marked with a special countdown set on the front of the Barbera stadium, to start the “call” which at the end of 2019 gathered fans, collectors, and enthusiasts from all over the world. Thanks to their extraordinary contributions, it was possible to recover unique relics of unmeasurable value: t-shirts, historic photographs, pictures of the fans, audiovisual material, memorabilia, flags, scarfs, posters, pennants, comic books, books, fanzine, magazines, tickets, newspapers, and many more things that can attest to the passion for Palermo, through the fans’ material culture of collections throughout the years. A thorough selection orchestrated by the journalist, historian, and scientific coordinator of the museum, Giovanni Tarantino, which gave birth to a themed journey across all the faces of the fans and the history of the rosanero colors, next to installations and interactive experiences, according to the general architectural project of Studio Mazzarella.
This way, between and old picture of the founding fathers and a scaled plastic replica of the Renzo Barbera Stadium, in the new Palermo Museum you can live the experience of virtual training with Palermo, through an immersive experience, with highly advanced VR headgear. Going through the historical t-shirts of Palermo, hung like a real work of art at an art gallery, you can find yourself “wearing” them in a fun digital photobooth. At a special multimedia space, you can see short films of the old and new history, mixing in a big puzzle unforgettable videos and footage of old TV news, while inside of a small “cinema” you can see cinematographic references about Palermo, from a gag of Franco e Ciccio, to a scene from Ficarra e Picone.
Room also for the Fields of Sicily, a “show within a show”. Made with the support of the Department of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, which goes through the city fields in which the passion for football was born and developed through decades. A must-have, as well, is a special area dedicated to the rosanero Hall of Fame: a selection of the most representative 11 players + coach in Palermo’s history through an open poll to all the fans, with more than 6000 votes registered in the summer of 2020.
Palermo Museum also hosts a unique work of art from the artist Carlo CUT Cazzaniga: inspired by a pop nostalgic style, his work is composed of a series of tables made with a fretwork technique, in which the graphic projection is the real protagonist. CUT has also made 50 illustrations for the book “Eagles. Palermo: the museum, the history, the city” (the Palindrome) edited by Giovanni Tarantino.