Published on Thursday, August 24, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Beginning March 1, 2018, visitors to the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens will pay more for tickets as the museums switch to a season-based admission system with higher prices for visitors coming in spring and summer. In peak season (March 1 to October 31), tickets to the Uffizi will cost 20€; in the remainder of the year, they will cost 12...

Published on Thursday, July 20, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome has opened previously closed-off spaces, including a series of three rooms known as the Cambellotti Rooms, to the public for the first time, and is also providing new ways for visitors to interact with and understand the historic monument. Guests can access the rooms through a newly opened ceremonial entrance designed by architect Giov...

Published on Friday, July 7, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The first part of the Vasari Corridor, which connects Palazzo Pitti, the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, has reopened to the public after being closed since 1871. The first part of the corridor links Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery and travels above Via della Ninna. Previously, parts of the corridor were only open for guided tours, but now the p...

Published on Monday, April 17, 2017 by Kathy McCabe On June 1, contemporary and modern art museums across Italy will introduce a membership card that allows access to all participating museums. The project, called Contemporaneamente Italia, was announced ahead of the G7 Culture Summit, held in Florence at the end of March. Cards will cost 30€ each, will be sold at the participating museums starting June 1, and will g...

Published on Thursday, April 6, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi has been successfully restored and returned to the Uffizi Gallery. The painting spent six years in the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a Florence research and conservation institute, whose conservation team left the painting cleaner and brighter. The artist received a commission for the piece from Augustinian monks who in...

Published on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 by Kathy McCabe A new video installation, running through July 23, at Palazzo Strozzi  in Florence celebrates the contemporary work of Bill Viola. The exhibit, Bill Viola. Electronic Renaissance, links the artist’s contemporary work with that of Renaissance painters. Viola, an American contemporary video artist, worked in Florence at video production center Art/Tapes/22 during ...

Published on Monday, March 6, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Today, Michelangelo’s birthday, the Accademia in Florence will is launching its new membership card, called the Friends of David after the sculptor’s most famous piece. The card is aimed at Florentines or frequent visitors, including foreigners. For those under age 28, the card will cost 30€ per year, while other price tiers come at 50€ and 100€ per year. ...

Published on Thursday, February 16, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Siena is hosting an exhibit revealing the damage done by October earthquakes in Norcia and the surrounding areas, about 126 miles to the southeast, in its Duomo crypt and the Santa Maria della Scala Museum complex. The exhibit, called La Bellezza Ferita: Norcia EarthHeartArtQuake runs through October 29 and displays damaged and ruined artwork alongside footage of the...

Published on Tuesday, January 31, 2017 by Kathy McCabe The Prada Foundation opened a new photography gallery space in December, the Osservatorio, on the uppermost fifth and sixth floors of one of Milan’s most famous landmarks, the elegant Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The first and current exhibit, Give Me Yesterday, which runs through March 12, explores 21st-century photography as a diary and documentary medium and co...

Published on Sunday, January 15, 2017 by Kathy McCabe Following several powerful earthquakes in 2016, Italian art experts and scientists are concerning themselves with how to protect Florence’s treasured artwork, particularly Michelangelo’s David. While scientists, engineers, and art historians have studied David’s vulnerability for years, the issue is coming back into focus due to growing fears that it and other i...