Schmidt: "We have all the credentials to reopen, but without any celebration."

At the reopening of the museums scheduled for May 18, the director of the Uffizi Galleries, Eike Schmidt, announced that the Florentine museum venue is ready to start up again, according to the timetable and procedures set by the government and MiBACT. "We will open but without any triumphalism or celebration, because the epidemiological emergency is not yet over," he said.

Regarding the reopening of museums and places of art, Schmidt believes that reactivating them is very important at this historic moment: “It is good to allow people again, at such a difficult juncture, access to places of art and beauty, which can bring so much comfort.”

Concerning access arrangements and compliance with the rules laid down for physical spacing, the director reports that the Uffizi holds all the cards: “Already under pre-Covid conditions,” Schmidt said, "at the Uffizi Gallery the co-presence limit was nine hundred people, which means an average of 22 square meters available to each person inside the museum. Now this number will be further reduced. In order to stagger entry we will be able to make use of our algorithm, which we developed to cut down queues with the University of L’Aquila, readjusting it to a visitor flow management function that takes into account the rules and delicate needs of this particular time."

He also announced that three special exhibitions are set to open in the weeks following the reopening of the Galleries. The major retrospective at Palazzo Pitti dedicated to Giovanna Garzoni is already set up and will be inaugurated with a virtual ceremony a few days after the reopening, and two others will be coming soon: one focusing on medieval miniatures recovered by the Carabinieri’s Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale and the other will be the first monographic exhibition on Giuseppe Bezzuoli, a great 19th-century artist.

Finally, Schmidt concludes that "there will be a lack of international visitors in this interim phase, but this very fact will allow for a calmer, relaxed stay, with more space and time to enjoy the Uffizi and their works, with far fewer people around. This summer our museums will offer a unique experience, the likes of which has not been possible to experience in over half a century."

Schmidt: "We have all the credentials to reopen, but without any celebration."

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