Uffizi reopens and Schmidt also welcomes Tessel Middag, women's soccer star

Reopening in grand style for the Uffizi Gallery, where director Eike Schmidt welcomed President of the Region of Tuscany Eugenio Giani, Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella and board member of the Galleries Valdo Spini, former environment minister in the Ciampi and Amato governments, on Thursday. Schmidt symbolically reopened the museum by personally throwing open the door with the authorities. A surprise appearance at the Uffizi shortly afterwards was also made by Education Minister Lucia Azzolina, who stopped for half an hour to visit the museum. And it was immediately showtime for Eike Schmidt, who provoked by inviting to the Uffizi the kids who are planning to play hooky from school (or “do forca,” as they say in Tuscany): “kids, if you really have to do forca, come to the Uffizi!”

But that’s not all: among the first visitors on Friday was also women’s soccer star Tessel Middag, a 1992 Dutch woman, a finalist at the 2015 World Cup in Canada, and, above all, Fiorentina Women’s latest signing, arriving from England’s West Ham. The 28-year-old soccer player (moreover, fresh from her first goal in a purple jersey, in last Sunday’s Fiorentina-San Marino match that ended 3-1 for the lily-headed women) is also a university student of History and a great lover of art history: she visited the Uffizi together with director Schmidt, and the two indulged in a “sports pose” snapshot, in front of the sculptural group of Baccio Bandinelli’s Laocoon, while giving the... kickoff to the museum’s reopening. “The union of sports and art makes the strength of culture,” said the director.

Long live Schmidt and his staff’s satisfaction with the museum’s reopening after a full 77 days of closure, even longer than the first lockdown. But not only that, it was also the longest closure since World War II. As many as 776 visitors came to the museum on the first day it was open, half of them under 25 years old-a good way to start over.

Uffizi reopens and Schmidt also welcomes Tessel Middag, women's soccer star

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