Italians flock to support their museums

The New York Times carried an article about the first visitor to the Vatican Museum, after almost three months of lockdown. He arrived at the entrance to the museum to be met by a pack of photographers, as though he were a VIP in prey to the papparazzi. 

And he was the first of many. Romans, like all Italians, had been stuck in their homes without being allowed out for even a walk or some fresh air, so as soon as the lockdown was lifted, they rushed to visit their museums, normally packed full of Italian and international tourists.

The headline of the article – Italians Rediscover their Museums, with no Tourists in Sight – made me think about a phone call I’d had in mid-May with a close friend from Florence. He told me how beautiful Florence was without the mass of tourists that normally crowd the Renaissance City, how magical it was to walk through the empty streets, to cross the Ponte Vecchio without having to push your way through the usual hordes. 

However, it seems that slowly things are returning to normal. Last weekend the Uffizi had 8,000 visitors and the gallery’s director, Eike Schmidt, was pleased with the numbers: ‘This just goes to show that even in this difficult moment as life begins to return to normal, many look to the art and culture that we have on offer.’

Given the measures still in place to control the spread of Covid, in Florence as in Rome, the majority of those who visited the Uffizi will have been locals – happy to have the museum to themselves. I hope they appreciated it. I would have loved the chance to view the works on show without the usual press of bodies, but I am stuck in the UK. 

What is clear though, is that Italy needs tourists. Its economy depends on them. And it is suffering particularly severely from the lockdown measures, domestic and international. The Uffizi lost 12 million euros in the 85 days it was forced to close. And many businesses that depend on tourism – restaurants, hotels, shops – will close, if the government is not able to provide adequate economic support.

I don’t think though that Florence, Rome or Venice will stay empty for long, the visitors will return, and so while they have their cities to themselves, I hope Italians take the opportunity to visit their museums and art galleries and enjoy to the full, the time and space allowed them. A win-win that will also help these crucial institutions survive.

But I also hope that this crisis will force the government to review the economic strategy of our country, for I fear we have become a little too dependent on the tourist dollar.