"Lands of the Uffizi" grows: six new exhibitions for project spreading the museum acrossTuscany

Now in its third edition, Terre degli Uffizi, a project for the enhancement of Tuscany’s artistic heritage promoted by Gallerie degli Uffizi and Fondazione CR Firenze, within their respective programs Uffizi Diffusi and Piccoli Grandi Musei, is expanding. The municipalities of Montespertoli, Anghiari, San Giovanni Valdarno, already involved in previous editions, are joined for the first time by those of Montelupo, Scarperia and Grosseto. Four confirmations and two new territories involved, including Grosseto, a first in Maremma.

Meanwhile, there is a growth in visitors with the result that Terre degli Uffizi continues to hit its goal: to dislocate from Florence tourist flows and increase the number of nearby visitors, thanks to the involvement with peripheral museums already present in the territory and with municipalities. In fact, the data confirm an average increase in visitors of 37 percent compared to the same periods of the year before the project was launched (in the first year of exhibitions the percentage was +18 percent), with a total of 61,042 visitors in the eight exhibitions and 216,000 euros in receipts for the museums that were fee-paying. Questionnaires (over three thousand analyzed) submitted to visitors tell that 79% were visiting the museum for the first time and 47% said they visited specifically for the exhibition.

Exhibitions in 2023

Six exhibitions will be held as part of the third edition of Terre degli Uffizi during 2023. The exhibitions will be held in Montelupo, Montespertoli, Scarperia and San Piero, Anghiari, Grosseto, and San Giovanni Valdarno. The exhibition program starts with the exhibition The Ceramics of Montelupo and the Uffizi: a “gallery” of comparisons, which will be held from April 1 to October 1 at the Museum of Ceramics in Montelupo.

This is followed by the exhibition in Montespertoli, at the Museo Diocesano d’Arte Sacra di San Pietro in Mercato, from April 22 to Oct. 29, which is the third exhibition within Terre degli Uffizi and this year is dedicated to Filippo Lippi and entitled Filippo Lippi in Valdelsa. Another confirmation of the project is the City of Scarperia and San Piero, specifically the Palazzo dei Vicari - Museo dei Terri Taglianti, which from May 12 to November 5 will host I Medici, People of Mugello. Family Portraits from the Uffizi Galleries. For Anghiari it will be the third return after participating in the 2021 and 2022 editions. From May 27 to Sept. 17, also at the Museum of the Battle and Anghiari, will be Intellectuals in Battle. Fame and Oblivion of Two Literati from the Battle of Anghiari to the Siege of Famagusta. Terre degli Uffizi lands for the first time in the Grosseto area, right in Grosseto, with I favolosi anni ’60’ in Maremma. In the Sign of Ico Parisi, at the Clarisse Cultural Center, from June 17 to Sept. 3. Finally, San Giovanni Valdarno is hosting a long-running exhibition dedicated to Giovanni da San Giovanni, to be held at the Museo delle Terre Nuove from Sept. 30 to Jan. 6, 2025, entitled Bizarre and Capricious Mood. Giovanni da San Giovanni, painter without rule at the Medici court.

The project, realized thanks also to the collaboration with Unicoop Firenze, was presented by Luigi Salvadori, president of the Fondazione CR Firenze, Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries, and representatives of the territories involved.

The statements

President of Fondazione CR Firenze Luigi Salvadori: "We are very pleased with this project, which proves its validity in the facts. The exhibitions have contributed to a significant increase in knowledge and attendance at the places where they were set up, and a large part of the public visited them because they were attracted by the value of the cultural proposal. Thus, we have fully achieved the main objectives of this operation, which, from its inception, was aimed at decongesting large tourist flows and making people discover destinations and places that are less known but no less rich in beauty and art. We intend to support that model of ’experiential tourism’ that is growing considerably in this post-pandemic year and that, according to the most qualified observers in the sector, is destined to increase by 57 percent by 2030.’’

Uffizi Galleries Director Eike Schmidt: “This initiative, which began immediately after the lockdown, is having an unexpected impact. Others are springing up of a similar nature in Italy, and even abroad some museum directors, technicians, and even administrators of cities like Florence that are the subject of a tourism onslaught are interested in our model so that it can be replicated. After three years, I can only say that a project perceived at first with protectionist fear, judged by some as a despoliation, has instead enriched the area and the Uffizi itself, whose works are put in a new light and welcomed with enthusiasm. I am grateful to Luigi Salvadori for having immediately understood the educational and cultural potential of the Uffizi ’diffusion,’ supporting it and contributing substantially, with the Fondazione CR Firenze, to its success.”

Image: view of Anghiari

"Lands of the Uffizi" grows: six new exhibitions for project spreading the museum acrossTuscany

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