Eike Schmidt, the former director of the Uffizi galleries in Florence, has announced he is running to be the city's mayor, ending months of speculation about his political ambitions. Schmidt will compete in the municipal June election as part of a right-wing alliance comprising prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, Forza Italia and the far-right League led by Matteo Salvini.
Last December the Italian government announced a raft of new appointments at ten state-run museums under a wide-ranging reshuffle which saw Schmidt named the new director of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples. Schmidt—who was born in Germany in 1968 and became an Italian citizen last year—says he will ask the Italian government for leave from his post to campaign in the election.
Vincenzo De Luca, the president of the Campania region, criticised the move, telling The Guardian: “I find the idea of keeping the management of the Capodimonte in abeyance pending the outcome of the municipal elections in Florence unacceptable.” If Schmidt wins in June, he will have to step down.
Schmidt has long sought a political position, telling the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno in December that he had not ruled out running for mayor. “I will think about it calmly… in the sun of Naples. But then I say to my opponents: even if I were to run, who says I would be elected?" he said.
Schmidt told the Finestre sull’Arte journal: “My vision for the city is based on Florence’s great history and culture, [offering] beauty, safety and cleanliness, guaranteeing also the freedom of citizens.” He adds: “Le Cascine [a park in Florence] is a big problem that needs to be strongly addressed. It can come back, like Central Park in New York that was reborn through beauty, sports, and culture.” He also pledged to manage the effects of tourism.
Last November Schmidt attacked plans to deploy security guards at shopping centres in the city, accusing the city’s current left-wing mayor, Dario Nardella, of favouring shopkeepers over museums.