Alain Elkann Interviews

ANTHROPOLOGY REGENERATES CULTURE. Simone Verde is a museologist and art historian who was appointed Director of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, in December 2023, replacing Eike Schmidt who moved to Capodimonte. From 2014 to 2016 Simone Verde was head of scientific research at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, and from 2016 to 2023 he directed the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, Italy, whose total restoration and refurbishment he completed. Verde studied Theoretical Philosophy in Rome and Paris, has a doctorate in Anthropology of Cultural Heritage, and a degree in Museology and Art History at the École du Louvre. "The strength of art, of heritage, is its capacity to regenerate itself through centuries and time and cultures." "The icons of the museum are promoted by social media, and this is both an opportunity and a problem." "We have to be a universal museum in terms of audiences. That makes the work we do much more complicated."