Uffizi chief says museums will close without new staff hires

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 18 - Uffizi Gallery Director Eike Schmidt said Thursday that all Italian museums would be forced to close close without new staff hires by the government ushered in by the September 25 general election.
    Schmidt told ANSA that visitor numbers had returned to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 and that offerings were on the rise "but the staff is continuing to contract".
    He warned: "without a solution we're all going to close, even the biggest ones".
    Schmidt said the upcoming government - which is expected to be led by the far right - must "address and immediately resolve the staffing problems of museums and other places of culture" in Italy.
    "Whoever is in power after September 25 will have to think about this." He said the problems with getting and keeping staff had remained an issue even after the recent musum reform of Culture Minister Dario Franceschini. (ANSA).