L'Aquila Maxxi modern art museum to open at Ardinghelli Palace says Franceschini

(ANSA) - Rome, October 9- A new Maxxi modern art museum is expected to open at the Palazzo Ardinghelli in L'Aquila, the Abruzzo capital, following the building's restoration with Russian funds, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said Friday.
    "In L'Aquile there is financing of 1.5 million to complete the work on Palazzo Ardinghelli that was restored with a contribution from Russia," the minister said on the fringes of the presentation of the XI Day of contemporary art that opens Saturday.
    "Originally it was going to become the ministry's head office, but now instead we have decided that it will become a museum of contemporary art, the collection of which will be made up from donations".
    "We think that the museum can be managed by the (existing) Maxxi (in Rome) and will be the L'Aquila Maxxi".
    A new museum "will contribute to the process of rebirth and revaluation of the historic centre" of the city recovering from a devastating 2009 earthquake, Franceschini said.
    "We will ask great international artists and institutions to donate works" for the new collection, he added.