Uffizi's Historic Photo Archive Goes Online After Rediscovery

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence have digitized and made publicly accessible the Regio Archivio Fotografico, one of Italy's oldest museum photo archives, established in 1903 by director Corrado Ricci. The collection, thought lost for decades, was rediscovered in 2018 during renovation works for the Nuovi Uffizi project. It comprises 45,000 images dating from 1860 to 1960, created by about 300 photographers, publishers, and printers using techniques such as albumen, gelatin silver, carbon prints, and photomechanical prints. The archive primarily documents Italian and foreign artworks, but also includes monuments, landscapes, and people. Notable photographs include early 20th-century Florence scenes, the construction of the Malamocco dam in Venice, and damage to the Chiesa degli Scalzi after WWI bombings. The digital platform allows users to search by artist, artwork title, photographer, location, and photographic technique, and to view both recto and verso of each image, which can be freely downloaded with proper credit. The original wooden cabinets and custom storage containers from the early 1900s were also preserved but are no longer usable; the digitization virtually opens their drawers. Director Eike Schmidt called the rediscovery a literal treasure, emphasizing the archive's historical and poetic value.