Italian museums undergo mass leadership reshuffle with Eike Schmidt out at the Uffizi

The Uffizi will be run by Simone Verde, an art historian in charge of the Pilotta complex of museums in Parma.
Photo: Naval S via Flickr
The Italian government has announced a raft of new appointments at ten state-run museums under a wide-ranging reshuffle which sees Eike Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi galleries in Florence, named the new director of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples.
A culture ministry-appointed selection committee announced the names of the new directors for the Uffizi, Capodimonte and the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan on 15 December. Schmidt leaves Florence after being in post for eight years; he will be replaced by Simone Verde, an art historian in charge of the Pilotta complex of museums in Parma.
Verde has a doctorate in anthropology and cultural heritage from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and was previously the head of research and publications at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. According to the newspaper Il Giornale dell’Arte, Verde oversaw a €22.4m restoration of the Pilotta site, which “revolutionised” the complex of buildings comprising the National Archaeological Museum and the Palatine Library. Verde was contacted for comment regarding his plans for the Uffizi Galleries.
In other key moves, Renata Cristina Mazzantini succeeds Cristiana Collu as director of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. Mazzantini has overseen Quirinale Contemporaneo, a contemporary art and design project based at the presidential residence and offices in Rome. Angelo Crespi, the president of the Maga Museum in Gallarate, has meanwhile been named the director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, replacing the British Canadian James Bradburne.
The move puts in place Italian-born candidates after years of seeking foreign experts to head Italy’s most prestigious institutions. (The German-born Schmidt recently received Italian citizenship). This trend was started by the former culture minister Dario Franceschini in 2020 but has been accelerated by the current minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Earlier this year, art historians warned that the government-appointed committee tasked with helping select the new directors of some of Italy’s biggest museums lacked impartiality.
Last month, Schmidt fuelled speculation that he is preparing to stand in mayoral elections in Florence next year, representing Meloni’s right-wing ruling Brothers of Italy party.
Schmidt still seems to harbour political ambitions, telling the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno at the weekend that he has not ruled out running for mayor. “I will think about it calmly, in January, in the sun of Naples. But then I say to my opponents: even if I were to run, who says I would be elected?" he said.
He added: “My candidacy is something extremely hypothetical. It was born from the requests of the citizens of Florence, some of whom stopped me in the street and asked me to run as mayor since [Italian] law prevented a third mandate at the Uffizi. I always stopped to ask what they believed the city needed, what they needed… But now I don't have time to think about this; Capodimonte deserves all my attention.". Schmidt declined to comment further.
Asked about his favourite work in the Capodimonte collection, he said: “Il San Ludovico di Tolosa che incorona il fratello Roberto d'Angiò by Simone Martini (around 1317), I have spent hours looking at it. And I hope to be able to do it again, in the moments free from work.”
In Naples, Schmidt replaces the French art historian Sylvain Bellenger. He will be joined by two other museum chiefs in a management triumvirate: Cecilie Hollberg, the current director of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, and Marco Pierini, the former director of the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia and the Polo Museale dell’Umbria.

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