The Villa Medicea dell'Ambrogiana in Montelupo could become home to the Uffizi diffused

An inspection by the president of the Region of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, and the director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt, was held yesterday afternoon at the Villa Medicea dell’Ambrogiana, in the municipality of Montelupo Fiorentino: the historic Medici mansion could in fact become one of the venues of the Uffizi diffusi project, which aims to bring works from the collection of the Florence museum to the territory. The sumptuous 16th-century villa is currently unused, but already in Grand Ducal times, under Leopold III, it was turned into a criminal asylum, later transformed into a judicial psychiatric hospital in the 1970s, and remained so until 2017 (for a time the most important rooms remained open to visitors by reservation).

Currently the villa is in the availability of the State Property Agency, which precisely in 2017 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Municipality of Montelupo Fiorentino and the Region of Tuscany with the aim of enhancing the Medici complex. President Giani, however, remarked on the need to envision a broader memorandum of understanding connected to the Uffizi Diffusi project, which could kick off a major recovery effort for the Ambrogiana.

Illustrating the project was Eike Schmidt, who reiterated how the idea of the Uffizi Diffusi comes from afar and mentioned the works that could find a home in Montelupo. “The idea of the Uffizi Diffusi,” he said, “is not ours, but that of Cosimo I de’ Medici and Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, who on Oct. 31, 1737, tied the Medici heritage to Tuscany and its capital. This is the Gallery’s vocation, and this idea will allow us to give visibility to the many works preserved in our deposits, which will be able to return to their original places. Here at the Ambrogiana between 1600 and 1700 there were hundreds of works, and this is the right place to bring them back. Ours starts precisely from the rebirth of two symbolic places: the Villa dell’Ambrogiana and the Villa di Careggi. By enriching the collections with works that can tell the story of the place, connected, in the concrete case, with Ferdinand I and Cosimo III de’Medici. I am always very optimistic. The idea of the Uffizi Diffusi is ancient and we can finally actualize it. I am not discouraged and I believe that the conditions are in place to achieve this important goal in a relatively short time. In these years something is moving and so we are committed to speeding up the timetable, aware that there are interventions to be made on the villa; for this reason we are already at work to prepare the projects and start the activity of finding financing.”

According to President Eugenio Giani, the Ambrogiana is “a beautiful Medici villa, the only one with direct access to the Arno, it will be able to be returned, after having been for years the site of a judicial psychiatric hospital, to a more appropriate function: a place suited to host beauty. We fully share the idea proposed by Eike Schmidt of the Uffizi being no longer just the Gallery of Florence, but becoming the Gallery of Tuscany. Paolo Masetti, mayor of Montelupo, has managed to turn the spotlight on this place and on the future of the Villa as one of the central locations of the Uffizi Diffusi. I must say that together with Schmidt we share the goal of realizing this project, which represents the most classic example of what the Uffizi Diffusi are. Among the many proposals for venues that will be able to house the Gallery’s unexhibited works, the Ambrogiana represents the most emblematic example. Today’s meeting is an important step on the path to arrive at a memorandum of understanding that will concretize this idea for which Eike Schmidt will go down in history. The Ambrogiana, the Villa di Careggi and the Terme del Corallo in Livorno are three cornerstones of the project. Obviously the intervention that can start first is the one in Careggi, which I hope to see completed by 2024, but I am also optimistic about Montelupo.”

According to the mayor of Montelupo Fiorentino, Paolo Masetti, the Uffizi Diffusi project has the merit of revitalizing an entire territory, and the Ambrogiana can also be an attractor for all the municipalities in the area. “This is about changing the approach to culture, enhancing the entire Tuscan system and increasingly connecting the territories; Florence will continue to play its role as a major attractor and from this project all the territories will be able to benefit from it in a perspective of mutual collaboration, with a special eye to the tourist flows that sooner or later will return to move. In short, this is an important cultural operation: to disseminate Tuscany with art and beauty. One of the focal points will be precisely Montelupo with its Ambrogiana, a place that for years represented detention, pain and suffering. The presence of all the mayors, Alessio Falorni as president of the Union, Giacomo Cucini, delegate for culture, and Brenda Barnini mayor of Empoli and metropolitan deputy mayor gives even more body to this vision: we are used to cooperating and supporting strategic projects seamlessly. I believe this is the strength of our area. Indispensable presences are definitely the State Property Office that owns the property and the Superintendency a crucial interlocutor in this operation. I really thank Eugenio Giani for identifying the recovery of the Ambrogiana as the symbol of the Uffizi Diffusi. Of course I am grateful to Eike Schmidt for the idea he is developing and for the work he is doing day after day. I believe that all together we can really do great things.”

Photo: the Villa Medicea dell’Ambrogiana. Ph. Credit

The Villa Medicea dell'Ambrogiana in Montelupo could become home to the Uffizi diffused

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