“Terre degli Uffizi”, five exhibitions in five Tuscan villages
The first stage is the “Nel segno di Dante” exhibition in Poppi
Five Tuscan villages host five exhibitions dedicated to Dante, detailing Tuscany in his lifetime. The “Terre degli Uffizi” project has been developed as part of “Uffizi diffusi”, which aims to bring the works of the museum to the nearby areas, and to forge new relationships with the territories and making the art available to everyone. Poppi, San Godenzo, Anghiari, Montespertoli and Castiglion Fiorentino are the five villages that are the protagonists of this new initiative.
The five exhibitions
The first exhibition, titled ‘Nel segno di Dante’, is scheduled in Poppi from July 17 to November 30, bringing Nicola Monti’s work ‘Paolo e Francesca’, a recent acquisition of the Uffizi, to the Castle of the Guidi Counts.
The next stop is in San Godenzo, with the ‘Dante Alighieri and Andrea del Castagno return to San Godenzo’, show on display from July 26 to September 5, revolving around the portrait of Dante Alighieri by Andrea del Castagno.
The focus then returns to the Arezzo area with ‘The arms civilization and the Courts of the Renaissance’ in Anghiari in the Aretino area, from August 12 to January 6, looking at relations between the city and the suburbs in the time of the Renaissance.
A reflection on Giotto could not be left out: a dedicated exhibition takes place in Montespertoli from September 25 to December 10, titled ‘Giotteschi painters in Valdelsa’, relating the ‘Madonna and Child’ by the painter Lippo di Benivieni preserved in the rectory of the church of San Pietro in Mercato, with another Madonna by the same artist that’s owned by the Uffizi.
Finally, in Castiglion Fiorentino from October 2 to January 6, ‘The last seal: The Stigmata of San Francesco in La Verna from the collections of the Uffizi Galleries’ sees the Uffizi sending the work titled ‘San Francesco receives the stigmata’ by Cigoli to Castiglione.
According to the director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt “Terre degli Uffizi is the first project of the ‘Uffizi Diffusi’ strategy: it is like a sturdy branch that starts from the trunk of an extremely vital tree in its growth phase”. For the president of Tuscany, Eugenio Giani, these are “five exhibitions that allow us to give concrete meaning to the Uffizi diffusi (the Uffizi widespread), taking place from July to September”.
In order to carry out the project, a five-year memorandum of understanding was stipulated between the Uffizi Galleries and Fondazione Cr Firenze.
