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Eike Schmidt Plans Fashion Museum at Uffizi; Stolen Verona Paintings Recovered in Ukraine

cultural-heritage · 2026-05-05

Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries, has unveiled plans to revamp the Galleria del Costume into a significant museum dedicated to Italian fashion. This project will enhance display areas and adopt preservation techniques modeled after the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Collaborators include the Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, Pitti Immagine, and Fondazione Pitti Discovery, with a three-year partnership. The initiative will kick off with an exhibition of 200 photographs by Karl Lagerfeld at Palazzo Pitti, a key site in Italy's fashion history. Meanwhile, La Stampa has reported the recovery of 17 stolen paintings from Museo di Castelvecchio.

Key facts

  • Eike Schmidt plans to expand the Galleria del Costume into a major fashion museum.
  • The museum will adopt conservation models from the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • A three-year agreement involves Uffizi, Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, Pitti Immagine, and Fondazione Pitti Discovery.
  • An exhibition of 200 photographs by Karl Lagerfeld will open at Palazzo Pitti.
  • Seventeen paintings were stolen from Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona on November 19, 2015.
  • The stolen paintings were recovered in the Odessa region of Ukraine.
  • Ten Moldovan and three Italian suspects were arrested in March 2016.
  • Franco Zeffirelli's Roman home on the Appian Way was featured by La Repubblica.

Entities

Artists

  • Eike Schmidt
  • Karl Lagerfeld
  • Franco Zeffirelli

Institutions

  • Gallerie degli Uffizi
  • Galleria del Costume
  • Victoria & Albert Museum
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana
  • Pitti Immagine
  • Fondazione Pitti Discovery
  • Palazzo Pitti
  • Museo di Castelvecchio
  • La Stampa
  • La Repubblica

Locations

  • Florence
  • Italy
  • London
  • United Kingdom
  • New York
  • United States
  • Verona
  • Ukraine
  • Odessa
  • Moldova
  • Rome
  • Appian Way

Sources