Uffizi Galleries in Florence Announce Plans for Major Renovation
The two-year project will include restructuring and renovation across the Gallery of Statues and Paintings, Pitti Palace, and the Boboli Gardens
Italy’s Uffizi Galleries announced a major two-year project that will see the renovation, restoration, and functional restructuring of spaces at the Gallery of Statues and Paintings, Pitti Palace, and the Boboli Gardens. Some stages of the project, projected to cost nearly $58 million, are already underway.
“An operation of unprecedented scale and depth is underway thanks to the extraordinary commitment of the entire staff,” said Simone Verde, Uffizi Galleries director. “The museum complex will emerge even more beautiful and increasingly capable of representing one of Italy’s fundamental cultural icons.”
Uffizi Galleries welcomed about 5.3 million visitors last year and is one of the most visited institutions in the world. The galleries house some of the world’s finest Italian Renaissance art, such as Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Luca Signorelli’s Madonna with Child, much of which is connected to the Medici family, who commissioned the original building as government offices in 1560.
In June, the Uffizi unveiled the newly arranged galleries dedicated to paintings by Sandro Botticelli. The new permanent Botticelli galleries allow for more viewing space and less congestion among visitors, which is also the aim of the recently announced two-year project.
Non-structural renovations across all spaces include new lighting and signage, while grander plans include the restoration of a 16th-century amphitheater at the Boboli Gardens, which is already underway. The Pitti Palace’s top floor will also undergo a restoration, and the second floor of the Gallery of Statues and Paintings will gain a new reception area and redesign.