Boboli Gardens reopened on May 21st, Palazzo Pitti will reopen on May 28th, and, on June 3rd, even the Uffizi will be open
On May 21st, Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries, reopened the Boboli Gardens. It has been the first step towards going back to normality for one of the most visited of the Italian museum complexes. The Galleries are always at the top of the international rankings for popularity. And, every year, they are the third most visited Italian cultural site after the Colosseum in Rome and the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
The Boboli Gardens are the first example of the famous Italian garden style. The vast green expanse with a regular layout is a real outdoor museum. It houses ancient as well as Renaissance statues.
During the opening ceremony of the Gardens, Schmidt announced the gradual reopening of the museum complex’s doors to visitors. Following the government’s guidelines, on May 28th, Palazzo Pitti will once again welcome them in its four museums – the Treasury of the Grand Dukes on the ground floor, the Palatine Gallery and the Imperial and Royal Apartments on the first floor, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Costume and Fashion on the second floor.
Finally on June 3rd, even the Uffizi, the largest Italian art gallery, will officially enter Phase 2.
Famous worldwide for its invaluable collections of ancient sculptures and paintings, it boasts a unique collection of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance periods. They include some absolute masterpieces: Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio.
Schmidt said: “Even if we were ready across the board, we adapted the openings to follow the indications of the technical-scientific committee to the letter. First the muses in the open, like Boboli, then the small ones, with less than 10,000 visitors per year, finally the larger ones, like the Uffizi. Obviously, we prepared all the measures necessary to contrast COVID and aimed at guaranteeing social distancing.”