Uffizi Galleries director Eike
Schmidt will be saying goodbye but not farewell to Florence when
he leaves his position to take up a new appointment at the
director of the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.
"It is definitely not a farewell but just a goodbye," he told
reporters in the Tuscan regional capital on Saturday afternoon.
"Initially, and perhaps also in the long term, because I have my
home in Florence," he continued.
"Florence has grown in my heart over these years. I lived here
in the 1990s, I met my wife (here), it is a special city," said
Schmidt.
The German-born museum director said he had been "very moved"
upon learning of the appointment by Culture Minister Gennaro
Sangiuliano to the direction of one of Italy's most important
museums.
"I was in the place of the patron saint of Naples, Saint
Gennaro, I was moved to receive this lovely news," he told
reporters, adding that it is also a "success" for his
achievement at the Uffizi.
"Without what I managed to do here together with my team it
would not have been possible," said Schmidt.
He took up direction of the world-famous Florence gallery in
2015 and is widely credited with improving the visitor
experience and making it more accessible, as well as expanding
the collection.
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