Italy: Uffizi gallery in Florence plans imminent reopening

In Italy, the hour is with deconfinement. The first European country to have taken drastic measures in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Boot is also the first to experience the joys of semi-freedom. While the government has authorized its residents to leave their homes since Monday, the museums in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence are preparing to welcome visitors.

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"We are ready to reopen as soon as the government authorizes it," said Eike Schmidt in an interview with Apollo magazine . The director of the Florentine palace, home to one of the oldest artistic heritage in the world, evokes a potential reopening of the doors in mid-May, subject to compliance with social distancing measures.

"We will reduce the number of people who can be in the gallery at the same time - probably by half compared to the total capacity of 900 people," he said. The experience could only be more pleasant for visitors who " will be able to interact with the works of art more than with a crowd of people" , enthuses Eike Schmidt.

Reconnect with art

Good news, which will especially benefit the Tuscans, inter-regional travel is prohibited in Italy. In Rome, however, you should be able to continue to admire the works of Raphael loaned by the Uffizi Gallery to the Stables of Quirinal as part of an exhibition celebrating the memory of the painter who died 500 years ago. A loan that could be extended "until the end of the year," said Schmidt.

Since the confinement in early March, the Uffizi Gallery, which houses the masterpieces of Italian Renaissance masters Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Botticelli, has offered to showcase its heritage in videos published on social networks. An initiative welcomed by many Florentines wishing to reconnect with art and the gallery, welcomed Schmidt.

In France, no specific date has been announced for the reopening of museums. During his hearing before the Senate in mid-April, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester announced a deconfinement "on a case-by-case basis" and "spread over time" without giving more details.