2 days ago
Florence's Uffizi to clamp down on selfies after visitor damages 18th-century artwork
The man had been attempting to strike a pose in the style of the Grand Prince Ferdinando dei Medici, a 1712 painting by Anton Domenico Gabbiani, when he fell backwards into the canvas, Italian media reported.
The damage was light and the artwork would be repaired and returned to the exhibition within days, the museum said in a statement.
But the broader issue of clumsy tourists vandalising Italy's artistic heritage needed addressing, it added.
'The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant,' said Uffizi director Simone Verde.
'We will put in place very strict limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the spirit of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage.'
As of Monday, Verde hadn't yet specified what kinds of restrictions the museum planned to impose.
There have been numerous cases of reckless visitors causing damage to Italy's artworks in recent years.
Last week, Verona's Palazzo Maffei launched a manhunt for a couple who broke an art piece by sitting on it and fleeing the scene.
In 2023, a spate of incidents of vandalism at Rome's Colosseum prompted the site's director to blast visitors who were 'primarily interested in taking selfies.'
'The will of the tourist-vandal is to leave their own mark, because we are by now a society oriented towards ourselves,' said Alfonsina Russo.
The number of people charged with 'defacement of cultural heritage' has seen a steady increase in Italy over the past few years, Il Messaggero newspaper reported at the time.
