Direttore Galleria degli Uffizi

A new director for the Uffizi Gallery

Do you know who is the director of the Uffizi Gallery? His name is Eike Schmidt. Yes, you got it right: a German is in charge of the most important museum of Florence. But how is this possible?

First things first. On 18 August 2015, Dario Franceschini, Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism of Italy, implemented a reform that allowed seven foreigners to become directors of some of the most important Italian museums. We are talking about three Germans, two Austrians, one British and one Frenchman. For Italy, it was a real revolution and a significant step forward that laid the foundations for the modernisation of the Italian museum system.

The results achieved so far are very positive. On the whole, 2016 has been a successful year: 44,5 million of visitors in total, while in 2013 there were 38 million visitors, and the income has increased by 12% compared to 2015.

Museum

Museum director

Visitors in 2016 compared to 2015

Income in 2016 compared to 2015

Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Eike Schmidt

+4%

+13%

Ducal palace, Mantua

Peter Assman

+51%

Marche National Gallery, Urbino

Peter Aufreiter

+40%

Paestum National Archaeological Museum, Paestum

Gabriel Zuchtriegel

+27%

+53%

Brera Art Gallery, Milan

James Bradburne

+5,5%

Capodimonte Museum, Naples

Sylvain Bellenger

+33%

Gallery of the Academy, Florence

Cecile Hollberg

+3,5%

But let’s talk a bit more about Eike Schmidt. Born in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1968, he has been the director of the Uffizi Gallery of Florence since November 2015. He studied modern and medieval art at Heidelberg University, then in the 1990s, he obtained a scholarship and started working in Florence and Bologna. Afterwards, he moved to the United States of America, in Washington D.C., where he worked as a curator at the National Gallery of Art.

Anyway, not only Florence houses prestigious and international museum directors, but also the cities of Naples and Milan. In fact, Museo di Capodimonte is managed by the French director Sylvain Bellenger and Brera Art Gallery by the Canadian James Bradburne, who was also the director of Palazzo Strozzi until a few months ago.

In short, this reform represents an important change for Italy, a country that has now a greater cultural heritage potential and is happy to welcome foreign talents from all over the world.

Tradotto da Laura Contemori

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The Scuola Leonardo da Vinci is situated in the Heart of the Old City of Florence near Piazza del Duomo. From here you can reach the most famous squares and sights in a few minutes' walk.



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