Uffizi: Art and culture dialogues dedicated to the archaeological treasures of Tuscany's civic museums

The Uffizi Galleries’ weekly Wednesday lectures are back: fourteen appointments streamed live on Facebook that will accompany the public throughout the summer, from June to September. The summer season of the Dialogues of Art and Culture lecture series will open on Wednesday, June 2, on the occasion of Republic Day, with the lectio magistralis Indiana Jones wears Arma. The uniform that protects our past given by General Roberto Riccardi, head of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. Riccardi will discuss Italy’s widespread archaeological heritage and the role of defense and in the enhancement of the small museums that guard it.

Thirteen more events will follow, all on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. until Sept. 15, to discover the treasure trove of prehistoric, Etruscan and Roman antiquities preserved in Tuscany’s civic museums. The interventions are entrusted to the directors of the institutions involved and will give life to the narration of a real Grand Tour along the whole of Tuscany: from Fiesole and its surroundings, the itinerary will lead to inland Etruria (Valdarno and Val di Chiana) and the Maremma, to reach the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Curator of Classical Art at the Uffizi Galleries and organizer of the initiative Fabrizio Paolucci said, “Some of the oldest museums in Italy arose precisely in Tuscany: they were collections created to preserve the archaeological treasures that the territory was returning in increasing numbers. In 1761, a few years before the Uffizi became a public museum itself, the Guarnacci Museum in Volterra was already a reality, and Cortona, since 1727, had seen the birth of the Etruscan Academy and its collection. This lecture series is meant to be a tribute to this heritage that is so important in the history of Tuscan culture and, at the same time, it is meant to be an invitation to the public to go and rediscover in person museums and locations that are little known or taken for granted.”

“If we want tourism in our region in the coming years to be less and less focused on itineraries and cities now crushed by the exploitation of the vacation industry,” added Galleries Director Eike Schmidt, “it is necessary to make the public aware of the hidden and exclusive treasures that Tuscany still possesses in large numbers. These include first and foremost the civic archaeological museums, where for centuries collections have been preserved that do not fear comparison with the most celebrated collections of European antiquities. Visiting these museums means retracing the millennia-old history of those lands, observing from an entirely new point of view even places that we think have no more surprises for us, such as San Gimignano, Volterra or Cortona. This lecture series is a further, important part of the policy of enhancing the territory that the Uffizi Galleries has been pursuing for months on several fronts. It is our firm intention, in fact, to use the fame that our Institution has on a planetary level to give back to those places and museums of our region, erroneously defined as minor, the visibility and notoriety they deserve, with the hope of being able to contribute in this way to the birth of a more mature and aware tourism in the interest of Florence and all of Tuscany.”

Following is the full program.

June 2
General Roberto Riccardi, commander Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale.
Indiana Jones wears Arma. The uniform that protects our past

June 9
Chiara Ferrari
The Civic Archaeological Museum of Fiesole tells its story. From “little archaeological chaos” to a place of rediscovery of the ancient city

June 16
Maria Chiara Bettini
Etruscan Artimino and its Museum

June 23
Angelo Ghiretti
The Museum of Lunigiana Stele Statues in the Piagnaro Castle (Pontremoli, MS). A fascinating exhibit combined with a research laboratory

June 30
Paolo Giulierini
The Museum of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona and Europe: three hundred years of history

July 7
Giulio Paolucci
The Civic Archaeological Museum of Chianciano Terme between the Etruscans and the Romans

July 14
Maria Teresa Cuda
Telling Prehistory: The Civic Museum of Cetona

July 21
Valerio Bartoloni
A civic collection of antiquities. Ugo Nomi Venerosi Pesciolini and the birth of the archaeological museum of San Gimignano

July 28
Chiara Valdambrini
The Maremma Museum of Archaeology and Art (MAAM) and its history: people, art and archaeology

August 4
Simona Rafanelli
Meet MuVET, the Civic Archaeological Museum of Vetulonia: the legend of a man turned into the history of a town and its museum

August 25
Cinzia Murolo
The archaeological museum of the territory of Populonia: twenty years at the service of the community

September 1
Giacomo Baldini
Crossovers. Crossovers and contaminations in the new “Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli” Archaeological Museum in Colle di Val d’Elsa

Sept. 8
Fabrizio Burchianti
The Guarnacci Etruscan Museum of Volterra. Between eighteenth-century collecting and prospects for valorization

September 15
Susanna Sarti
Archaeology in Mugello and Valdisieve: museums, material culture and the role of the community

Uffizi: Art and culture dialogues dedicated to the archaeological treasures of Tuscany's civic museums

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