The opening of the Uffizi through the words of the Director

Eike Schmidt tells us his masterpieces

After 85 days finally open again: the Uffizi come back with all their Beauty, which today - thanks to the absence - seems even brighter. We had the privilege to visit them once again with the Director of the Galleries, Eike Schmidt, who revealed to us in a video the works he feels closest to this particular historical moment.

First of all the majestic Hall of Niobe: a character from Greek mythology, Niobe sinned of pride in the presence of the Gods who punished her by killing twelve of her fourteen children before her eyes. In the hall of the same name the marble that represents her while protecting her youngest daughter is a Roman copy of a Greek original; same origin and date for the other eleven statues of the Hall.

The Niobe becomes an allegory of a wounded humanity that however continues to defend itself. And then Botticelli's Primavera, symbol of the Rebirth, Michelangelo's Tondo Doni and Raphael's Madonna del Cardellino to lighten the spirit. Caravaggio's Medusa, which reminds us in its form of the dangers of the virus, not to forget our recent past.

If these are the masterpieces of the Director, the new rooms strongly desired by him, will allow you to enjoy all the wonderful paintings of the Gallery and to choose the paintings most dear to your sensibility. The new layout of the rooms, with a greater distance of the works themselves, and the post-pandemic access to the rooms allow you to live a new experience - quieter and longer than in the past - even for those who know well the Uffizi and the masterpieces kept here.

First of all, the maximum number of visitors who can stay in the Gallery at the same time has been reduced by half, from 900 to 450, in order to guarantee an average of 44 square metres of space for everyone during the museum tour. In front of the main works (such as Botticelli's venere e Primavera, Piero della Francesca's double portrait of the Dukes of Urbino, Michelangelo's Tondo Doni, Raphael's Madonna del Cardellino and Caravaggio's Medusa), distance markers have been glued on the floor to indicate where and how many people can stand in front of the paintings so as not to create groups.

We leave you to the images of our visit to the Gallery, waiting to live this beautiful experience personally, wrapped in a solemn and ancient silence. As this place deserve.