Candida Carrino, fishing for emotions among ancient documents

Who sets foot in a State Archive, if not for the obligation or passion of a scholar? Whether “everyone” is the answer is ambition of Candida Carrino, since he has been leading the structure in the Neapolitan monastery of Saints Severino and Sossio. Seventy kilometers of documents are conserved there, the stacks of which in some halls reach 11 meters in height. If it is easy to attract visitors with the promise of a painting by Caravaggio, it is difficult to succeed with the appeal of ponderous folders, even if they preserve the public history and the minor stories of businesses and families, epics of prominent families of the Two Sicilies (the most recent acquisition is from the d’Avalos) or lowly cases inherited over the centuries from the courts of justice, which conceal terrible human events. Yet 22,000 people in three months, without study purposes, crossed the door of the State Archives to enjoy an exhibition on toys from the last three centuries.

He let the children enter an austere “peripheral office” of the Ministry of Culture, housed in an equally austere convent frequented by scanty scholars. And without a ticket.

The strategy is to make the Archive a place of culture as open as any other, with initiatives for which I was inspired by the famous case of prunes recounted by Packard in “The Hidden Persuaders”. When California farmers discovered that their production was associated with something withered and wrinkled, they transformed the idea by relaunching it with the image of young, beautiful and sporty girls. I thought that even our papers shouldn’t be perceived as prunes, but collections of stories that talk about everyday life. We also exploit social platforms for this purpose and promote meetings, debates, theatrical performances.

Why should the public care about an ancient document?

There are not only sheets written with incomprehensible handwriting. Documents are also the photographs, they are the objects. We are collecting company archives that would otherwise be lost and instead are an opportunity for entrepreneurship education and storytelling for young people. For example, we acquired the modernist designer’s archive Philip Alisongiven to us by his wife. Six months ago we confiscated that of Gutteridge, the English tailor who moved to Naples and revolutionized men’s fashion by introducing trousers above the ankle. And yet the legacy of a glove factory, an activity in which Naples excelled in the world and has now almost disappeared: we will exhibit machinery, lasts, samples, tools. We have already promoted meetings on Italian craftsmanship, getting the public into dialogue with entrepreneurs who are resisting despite Chinese competition, including owners of brands over one hundred years old.

What about the traditional consultation activity?

It continues in the secluded and silent spaces of all time. Indeed, we are the only Italian State Archive that offers the possibility of requesting documents four times a day, also opening on Saturday mornings. In addition, we have set up a room adjacent to the study room for the use of female researchers who don’t know who to leave their children with. With changing table, nursing chair, bottle warmer and child-friendly desks.

How do you cover the costs of the activities?

With the strength we have and the ability to attract gifts. The toy exhibition was created on loan from an important collector. The restoration of a cycle of frescoes in the plane tree cloister was sponsored by Hermès. It’s a virtuous circle.

The Bourbon Archive is also kept in the monastery

The State bought it in 1951 after a long negotiation and it occupies one of the most fascinating halls. It is an invaluable collection of the political, economic and artistic events of an entire nation, with a foreign section that bears witness to the international relations of the Kingdom. To name one: the visits of the tsar’s envoys to the asylum of Aversa to update themselves on psychiatric trials.

Upcoming projects?

Research on the passport application fund from which it is possible to reconstruct the identities and places of departure of Italian emigration. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs we will build a huge database that can be consulted online. Or the census on the cultivation of mulberry trees for silkworms, in the Calabrian estates, when the silk industry was flourishing.

Is it true that the plane tree in the cloister was planted by Saint Benedict and has healing properties?

Inter nos, the saint never set foot in Naples. But I don’t tell visitors: if someone devoutly carries a fallen leaf, I let them. Legends also work in the temple of recorded history. Anyway, there was a grove of plane trees here in the 4th-5th century AD: ours isn’t that old but it was born from a shoot of those.

How to captivate a refractory to old cards?

There is always a way. I shook off a sleepy context by extracting the ancient recipe for a vermouth from the folders: when I read the ingredients everyone asked for a photocopy. The foolproof system is to arouse an emotion. Perhaps you are not interested in vermouth if I say instead that we keep the stock of Anna Maria Ortese her eyes sparkle.