Gucci Museum in Florence reopens

(ANSA) - Florence, January 10 - The Gucci Museum in Florence is reopening with a new look, under the guidance of Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele, who has transformed the museum's location in the historic Palazzo della Mercanzia into a delight for the senses called the Gucci Garden.
    The museum is divided into three sections: a gallery, a boutique, and a restaurant.
    The ground floor hosts the boutique, selling limited edition or one-of-a-kind Gucci items created specifically for the Gucci Garden and inspired by the label's collections.
    Turning left at the entrance leads to the Gucci Osteria, a restaurant by three-Michelin-starred Chef Massimo Bottura, famous for his Osteria Francescana in the centre of Modena and for his soup kitchens. Bottura said he believes he and Gucci "have a lot in common" and said he decided to collaborate with the brand "also thanks to my friendship with CEO Marco Bizzarri, who was a high school friend of mine".
    "If the Gucci Osteria works, it could become a format," Bottura said.
    Alessandro Michele said he is "very satisfied with this transformation".
    Michele appeared at the presentation for just a few moments, with a new look of shorter black hair, wearing a black hat and dark glasses. "The boutique seems like a bazaar and the museum has been transformed into something living, into a gallery that tells about Gucci thanks to Maria Luisa Frisa, a woman with great talent who understood what I wanted after 15 years of working in this company," he said.
    Gallery curator Frisa said the gallery is organised in theme-based areas that "are living and transform themselves".
    "It's no longer a museum but rather a place that changes, divided into six rooms, three on the first floor and three on the second," she said.
    The rooms are dedicated to various aspects of the brand, from its double-G logo and icons such as its mocassins, horsebit loafers, and the green-and-red striped ribbon, to historical documents, examples of nature and animal-inspired designs, and even a short film on the myth of Hercules.