After about a year of works, the Church and the Orsanmichele Museum in Florence return to new life thanks to new restorations and new lighting.
The announcement of their reopening, scheduled for January 19th, was made at a press conference held on January 15th. Key speakers at this event included Florence's Mayor Dario Nardella, H.E. Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, Superintendent Antonella Ranaldi, museum curator Benedetta Matucci, architects Tommaso Barni and Fabrizio Natalini, and Paola D'Agostino, Director of the Bargello Museums.
The conference emphasized the vital role of the new lighting designed to give stylistic uniformity to the interior and enhance the beauty of the works of art. The lighting design concept developed by Guido Bianchi of Rossi Bianchi lighting design studio, with iGuzzini luminaires, has contributed decisively to the valorisation of the complex.
Inside Orsanmichele – originally a grain market loggia with two storage floors, then transformed into a sacred place - you can admire the tabernacle of Orcagna that protects the painting "Madonna and Child" by Bernardo Daddi, and thirteen statues by renowned artists such as Ghiberti, Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio, Baccio da Montelupo, Giambologna, Piero di Giovanni Tedesco and Niccolò di Pietro. The sculptures, once placed in external niches and engaging with passersby, now regain their interactive presence with the public in this new setting.
The valorization project was commissioned by Musei del Bargello and promoted by the Ministry of Culture, with the signature of Map Architetti and Natalini Architetti.