I am pleased to have helped start the Friends of the Uffizi Gallery by
conducting pilot projects in 2004 and 2005 with the start of the organization
in 2006.
I am an Italian-ophile and wanna be Italian. I love helping our wonderful group contribute to great works of art for the Uffizi. Art and artists are a big part of our life in our community in Italy where we live in the summer.
As a Leonardo Member, I enjoy the amazing projects being supported and the art lovers in our organization who have all become friends. After all, the first word in our name is FRIENDS!
There are particular areas and galleries that are special to me. I love the Map Room and the Vasari Corridor and can’t wait to see its new recreation.
I always look forward to the Florentine Weekends where we explore new
dimensions of the art and culture of Florence.
The story of our organization’s birth is very interesting and typical of the repeated historical events that have brought Americans to support the Uffizi and the Art and culture of Florence. Our first donation came from Col. Meyers, an American US Army soldier who was injured in WWII and cared for by a family in Florence. He went on to become an art collector in the US and upon his death he bequeathed funds to be gifted to “the people of Florence for causes of art”. Friends of the Uffizi was born from his estate attorney’s quest to find people to contact at the Uffizi, ultimately the Amici degli Uffizi thus the execution of his bequest from Col. Meyers.
