Uffizi Unveils Plans for $58 Million Transformation
3Aug. 8, 2026
TheUffiziinFlorencehas announced a €50 million ($58 million) restoration plan that it expects to carry out over the course of two years. The renovations will encompass the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, and the Boboli Gardens. Work has already begun on various projects, which are being staggered to avoid closing the museum completely.
“An operation of unprecedented scale and depth is underway thanks to the extraordinary commitment of the entire staff,” Uffizi director Simone Verde told those assembled at an August 5 press conference. “The Uffizi will emerge even more beautiful and increasingly capable of representing one of Italy’s fundamental cultural icons.”
Among the forthcoming changes, limned in detail in Finestre sull’ Arte, are new exhibition spaces, improved visitor facilities, expanded accessibility, and major upgrades to climate-control systems, including the purchase of two new cooling towers. New lighting and wall labels, redesigned layouts, and the introduction of new services are all aimed at enhancing the visitor experience, while the Uffizi will protect its treasures through improved conservation and security schemes.
Highlights by venue include a new reception area and the curatorial redesign of the second floor of the Gallery of Statues and Paintings at the Uffizi Gallery and the restoration of the Palazzo Pitti’s top floor, little seen by the public and soon to house a new exhibition space. Some 3,600 plants have already been added to the Boboli Gardens, where the Fountain of Neptune and the Fountain of the Island are being restored, along with the Amphitheater, which will again host public performances.
The €50 million funding for the restoration was provided by Italy’s Ministry of Culture, with more amassed from private donors, among them American philanthropist Veronika Atkin, who supplied €5 million ($5.8 million) toward the project.