THEJanuary 31st for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence it is an important day: it is the date on which the traditional one is celebrated Feast of Giftsthe day-event that precedes Valentine’s Day, during which couples in love will enter the museum by paying for just one ticket.
Gift Festival at the Uffizi
The Festa dei Doni is the initiative organized starting from 2019 by the Uffizi to commemorate the wedding celebrated in Florence in 1503 on January 31st, between Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, immortalized by Raffaello and notable figures in the Uffizi collections: their fascinating portraits capture the viewer’s gaze with their relaxed and elegant poses.
The famous Round Doni by Michelangelo dating back to between 1505 and 1507 and preserved in the Gallery, depicts the Holy Family with San Giovannino and bears their surname as it was commissioned to the artist on the occasion of the birth of their firstborn.
Couples pay for just one ticket
«The Day of Gifts is Valentine’s Day at the Uffizi – explains the director of the Uffizi Galleries Simone Verde – a beautiful party with which, for five years, the museum has been celebrating an iconic love union, the one which, over half a millennium ago, led to the creation of one of the Gallery’s treasures, the Doni Tondo by Michelangelo.
I invite all couples, all lovers, to come to the museum with us to take part in this day and magically seal itin the presence of one of the masterpieces of Western art.”
Holy Family, called “Tondo Doni” by Michelangelo Buonarroti (Getty Images)
The new director
Verde, new director of the Uffizi, one of the most famous art museums in the world, took over from Eike Schmidt, widely praised for modernizing the museum and making it more accessible to the public. Under his guidance, the museum has seen a significant increase in visitor numbers and launched a number of successful digital initiatives.
The new challenges of the Uffizi
Green will have an important task because will have to build new successes and face future challenges, including the need to attract a younger audience. But the new director is ready to lead this historic institution into a new erawith an excellent CV as former director of the Pilotta Monumental Complex in Parma, where he successfully completed restoration and reorganization projects.
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