Uffizi, American patron donates nearly $5 million to restore Boboli Amphitheater

American patron Veronica Atkins has donated nearly five million dollars, or four and a half million euros, to be used for the complete restoration of the BoboliAmphitheater. This is the largest donation from a private individual ever made to a Florentine museum: benefiting the Uffizi Galleries.

The large sum will be used to fully restore the Boboli Gardens Amphitheater, as part of the wide-ranging “Boboli 2030” Medici green revitalization program. The operations will kick off in the coming months, and will go on for two to three years. The aim is to restore to the best condition the many and varied architectural, sculptural and plant components of this evocative space, as well as to ensure the recovery of its original vocation for hosting performances, particularly opera music.

Through the Friends of the Uffizi Galleries, and working with their executive director, Lisa Marie Conte Brown, Atkins had funded the restoration of the Terrazzo of Maps at the Uffizi, the Florentine museum’s Valois tapestry series, and the Sala di Bona in the Pitti Palace. Last October, she gave one of the world’s finest pianos for concerts in the Sala Bianca of the former Medici palace. And on that occasion she was awarded the Keys to the City of Florence. Veronica Atkins also serves as Managing Director on the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, is president of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Foundation, and supports many other prestigious cultural organizations.

“The Boboli Amphitheater project combines my three greatest loves: nature, art and music. I look forward to the premiere of the opera that will resonate in this unique and magical place at the end of the restoration,” said Veronica Atkins.

"Thanks to the generosity of Veronica Atkins, one of the key projects of the Boboli 2030 initiative will see the light of day: the Boboli Amphitheater-which in its architectural form recalls the glories of ancient Rome-will recover its function as an open-air theater, in the very city where melodrama and opera itself were born. Soon we will once again see the best singers perform in the vast basin surrounded by greenery, in front of the grandiose backdrop of the Imperial and Royal Pitti Palace, to gather the applause not of a select few, but of the entire large audience that will join in the stalls and on the steps for a unique and unrepeatable experience," concluded Uffizi Galleries Director Eike Schmidt.

Uffizi, American patron donates nearly $5 million to restore Boboli Amphitheater

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