DJ al Museo Stibbert Review
Last night Florence hosted the first night-time opening/ music event in a museum. The event, called Dj al Museo, was organized by the Regione Toscana and promoted by the Social Media Team Voglio Vivere Cosi. Entry to the event was free to those who signed up online and filled out a questionnaire; we were rewarded by a free gift too – a really cool wooden USB key. Places were limited to 500 and sold out in only two days!
Eleonoir Casalegno, very pretty guest star
I did not expect this event to be so successful. Some italian press attributes its success to the presence of a very attractive guest star, Eleonoir Casalegno and to the famous Dj Albertino of Radio DeeJay (Italy’s biggest national rock/pop radio station). As a “foreigner” I had no idea who these people were – I just thought it was cool to have a night event in a museum in Italy, a practise that is already current in most European and American cities.
Despite the pouring rain, throngs of party-going 20 and 30-somethings flooded the Limonaia of Museo Stibbert starting at 9pm. Attendees were decked out in club-wear and high heels (the latter not so much the men…), making people-watching my main activity inside the club area. This museum geek has never seen such pretty girls all decked out and envied their ability to walk in heels. The event organizers succeeded in getting the news out to the club-going crowd who seemed very happy to show up and drink orange juice and coke and party on the Regione’s bill rather than cocktails at some pricey nightclub.
The biggest surprise was that people braved the rain to walk the 400 meters from the Limonaia (club area) to the museum itself, where we were treated to guided tours of Stibbert’s crazy collection of arms. The museum was PACKED – tour guides had to accept more than the usual number per group in order to accomodate us. People listened attentively to the information given by the (excellent) guide and wandered around checking out the unusual objects that Stibbert collected. The arms are set up in diorama type arrangements on mannequins and horses, and we learned about the differences between Islamic and European arms, as well as the shape of arms before and after the use of firearms.
This was a truly enjoyable evening and I hope there will be more like it.
More photos on the Dj al Museo facebook page.
