After a closure for renovations, the second floor of the gallery, home to 15th- to 17th-century works of art by the likes of Titian, Caravaggio and Tintoretto has finally reopened. The area which makes up half the museum has been under steady renovation since 2018. The revamped Uffizi Galleries offers visitors a first glimpse of 2,000 sq. m of new exhibition space containing never before displayed works. The museum recorded 1,516 visitors on day one of the reopening, suggesting a major recovery after ticket sales have been decimated during the lockdowns.
“There is a great thirst for culture,” Eike Schmidt, the museum’s director. “We hope that the recovery can be solid and permanent. We are optimistic.”
Italy’s museum has been badly effected by the pandemic with annual visitors falling to 1.2 millions last year from 4.4 million visitors before due to repeated lockdowns. Before the pandemic hit, the daily visitors averaged between 5000 to 6000, reaching 12000 on busy days according to a statement by an Uffizi spokeperson.
The Uffizi clocked 100 visitors within half an hour of opening, reaching 2,197 visitors by the end of the day for the Uffizi Galleries and the Boboli Gardens combined. Locals outnumbered tourists but there was a sizeable contingent of non-Italians, many of whom may be based in Italy for study or work, according to the spokesman.
The expansion has allowed museum to raise the previous upper limit of 450 visitors at any one time to 600. Pre-bookings have helped workers regulate visitor flows, with 725 bookings for this week’s opening and a current daily average of 1,000 ticket purchases for future visits in 2021.
The exhibition spaces are dedicated to 16th-century high and late Renaissance artists from central and northern Italy. Highlights among the 129 works on display include San Giovannino (around 1520) by Rosso Fiorentino, which was recently donated to the Uffizi and Daniele da Volterra’s Sacra Famiglia con Santa Barbara e l’Elia nel Deserto, which the Uffizi acquired in 2018. The works are protected with state-of-the-art non reflective glass, allowing visitors to get close without triggering alarms.
An additional 14th new room houses self-portraits by artists including Benini, Chagall and Guttuso. Over in the west wing, the walls are adorned with frescoes discovered during the recent renovation, including a 17th-century life-size depiction of Cosimo de’ Medici attributed to Bernardino Poccetti.