The director of St Petersburgs Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Petrovsky, has announced that Castello Estense in Ferrara has been chosen to house the Centro Studi Rinascimentali dellHermitage di San Pietroburgo or Hermitage Italia, with other palaces in the city, such as the Palazzo Giglioli and perhaps the Palazzo Melli, being used for logistical purposes. Given that Turin, Mantova and Verona were also competing to be chosen for this new seat, the mayor of Ferrara, Gaetano Sateriale, has hailed the news as a great success for the combined efforts of city, province, region, university, and local banks and entrepreneurs. This will be the fifth branch of the Hermitage abroad, after those of Las Vegas, London, Kazan and the recently opened one in Amsterdam, and can be regarded as an important further step in museums attempt to exploit and promote its 22 million catalogued pieces.