A clumsy tourist who wanted to take a funny photo has managed to charge a 17th -century canvas in the Uffizi gallery in Florence and has filled the patience of the museum, the most visited in Italy after the Colosseum. The direction of the Pinacoteca, which has denounced the visitor, of Italian nationality, has reacted severity and has announced that it will limit the photos for selfis and memes within the complex: “We will set very precise limits, preventing behaviors not compatible with the meaning of our institutions and the respect of cultural heritage,” said the director of the Uffizi, Simone Verde. The damage, fortunately, are “mild” and will be repaired in a matter of days, indicate spokesmen of the museum. Meanwhile, the canvas has been removed.
The event occurred this Saturday, and was captured in a video in which the scene is seen perfectly. The tourist approached a portrait of Ferdinando Dei Medici, the work of Anton Domenico Gabbiani, which is part of a newly opened temporary exhibition, Florence and Europe. Settecenta arts in the Uffizi. It is usually located in the Palazzo Pitti, on the other side of the Arno River. Apparently, the visitor tried to imitate the pose of the character of the painting, in a photo or a meme, and when walking back he lost his balance and leaned on the canvas, tear the fabric. “The problem of visitors who come to museums to make memes or selfis for social networks is overflowing,” admits the director of the Uffizi.
Museum sources explain that they must still study the issue to decide the measures to be taken, since it is not easy to find the solution to stop this type of “wrong behaviors do not considerate with respect for a work of art.” It is a problem of all Italian museums to which others are added, such as the massification of visitors and the impossibility of having personnel in all rooms.
The unpleasant incident occurred just the same day that the museum celebrated that it was finally freed from one of the least pleasant things in its recent history: the huge 60 -meter crane placed in the Plaza de la Pinacoteca 20 years ago, for the expansion works of the building, and that ruined the view of the millions of visitors of the city. Finally, it was disassembled last week and Saturday, precisely, it was the day the operation ended. In this way one of the promises of the new director of the complex, Simone Verde, who came to the position in 2024, was fulfilled, but the joy of the day was committed to the accident.
It is the second incident of this type known in Italy this month. On June 12, the Maffei Museum House in Verona, revealed what happened days before with a contemporary work of art by Nicola Bolla that represents the chair painted by Van Gogh in a famous painting. It is a chair made of Swarovski crystal and that broke a tourist in pieces when sitting on to take a picture.
Also in this case the event was immortalized in a tragicomic video. The visitor only wanted to simulate that he sat in the chair, staying flexed and posing a moment while his wife took the photograph, but lost his balance and ended up sitting on top. Next to the work, which was crushed, there was a sign that forbade sitting in the chair and in the video it is observed how the couple expects a guard to move away to take the photo. The truth is that the woman did it first and did not lose her balance, but her husband did. It is estimated that the repair of the work will cost between 10,000 and 18,000 euros.
The director of the museum, Vanessa Carlon, decided to publish the video on Instagram to raise awareness among the public: “It is not simple information or condemnation, it is because of the willingness to convert this serious fact on one occasion to reflect in order to promote a sensitization about the fragility of art and the need to take care of it.” But his warning has been in vain, ten later he has touched the Uffizi.