Sicilian Region to dedicate two museums to scholars Biagio Pace and Maria Accascina

Two regional museums will be dedicated to the memory of two scholars who have contributed to the cultural enrichment of Sicily. The regional council, on the proposal of the cultural heritage Assessor Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, expressed appreciation for the decision to dedicate the Archaeological Museum of Ragusa to the archaeologist Biagio Pace and the interdisciplinary regional museum of Messina (MuMe) to the art historian Maria Accascina.

“The choice to dedicate two important regional cultural institutions to the memory of two illustrious academics who have left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape of the island,” says Assessor Scarpinato, “is a gesture of recognition and gratitude that enhances their commitment and legacy in the fields of archaeology and art history.”

Biagio Pace

Therefore, the cultural institution of Ragusa will bear the name of Biagio Pace, who worked in the field of Sicilian and specifically Iblean archaeology in the first half of the twentieth century. A student of Antonino Salinas and Paolo Orsi since his university studies in Palermo, he attended the Italian Archaeological School of Athens for two years and took part in numerous excavation campaigns in Asia Minor, Crete, Rhodes, Carthage, and the Libyan Tibesti (Sahara). He is credited with the discoveries in Sicily of the ancient settlements of Camarina, Mozia, Selinunte, the Villa del Casale in Piazza Armerina, as well as numerous studies on Byzantine and Barbarian Sicily.

Maria Accascina

The Museum of Messina, on the other hand, will be dedicated to a renowned art historian, born in Naples at the end of the nineteenth century to parents from Mezzojuso (Palermo), known for her great initiative and tenacity, who is linked to the revival of this famous cultural institution and the entire city of the Strait. Maria Accascina was appointed by the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1949 to temporarily lead the then National Museum, which was in poor conditions. The new museum space was inaugurated and reopened in 1954, and Accascina remained there until 1963, turning it into a center for the study and collection of important works of art. Her professional path led her to focus on the dissemination of the so-called minor arts, bringing out and showing to the world the treasures hidden in chapels, sacristies, and convents, maintaining a constant presence in specialized magazines and in the Sicilian press.