Florence: synergy boosts museums, with a 22 per cent rise in takings for the new Gamb

Synergies are good for the arts. The case of the new Florentine museum system is a telling example. Created through the merger of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence and the Bargello Museums following a ministerial decree of 2024, the new system has also had a new name since last May, Gamb, and a new visual identity: a formal, outward-facing seal on the integration process led over the past 12 months by Andreina Contessa, who was appointed Director-General of the new organisation on 1 October last year.

“This first year of work has been devoted above all to fostering dialogue and bringing together two museum organisations that had always operated independently,” explains Contessa. Two institutions, each with its own distinct character, deeply rooted in the city. On the one hand, the Galleria dell’Accademia, which everyone knows above all for Michelangelo’s David, attracts large numbers of visitors and has a very sound financial position, sustained by its own revenue, to the extent that not only does it not receive state funding (except for special projects), but actually returns a portion of its takings to the state. On the other hand, the Bargello National Museum, equally important from a historical and artistic perspective (it was ‘the first museum of the Kingdom of Italia’, recalls Contessa), but less well-known and less visited, as is the entire constellation of artistic sites that make up the Bargello Museums: Orsanmichele, Casa Martelli, Palazzo Davanzati, the Medici Chapels and the former Church of San Procolo. All have come together under Gamb, which was founded precisely ‘out of a desire to give a unified structure to this complex organisation’, adds the director.

The results were not long in coming: in the first eight months of this year alone, the total number of visitors rose by 7.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2025, with nearly 2.2 million admissions and takings of over 21 million euros, up by 21.9 per cent, confirming a strategy that has succeeded in creating value and quality, rather than simply quantity, thanks in part to a more effective pricing policy better suited to the offering. ‘The Gallery has confirmed its strength and standing, with a 20.6 per cent increase in ticket revenue against a largely stable visitor numbers,’ explains Andreina Contessa. “The greatest satisfaction came from the Bargello Museums, which recorded substantial growth of 20.9 per cent, including in visitor numbers, with further interesting growth potential.”

These results reflect the returns on investments made in a number of key areas: staff, first and foremost, with 22 new recruits needed to ensure the reorganisation of opening hours, which has led to extended and harmonised opening times (at a cost of around 527,000 euros between January and August). Then there is communication, to explain and raise awareness of what is, in effect, a new museum system, albeit one comprising existing sites. And then there are the numerous restoration projects, including the restoration of the plinth of Benvenuto Cellini’s ‘Perseus’ at the Bargello, and the conservation and maintenance work on the bronze statues of Ferdinando I and Cosimo II de’ Medici at the Museum of the Medici Chapels.

Ticket prices have also been revised, bringing them into line with the market whilst also increasing the range of multi-visit passes on offer and maintaining free admission where it already applies. “Major exhibitions and events will also be coming soon,” reassures Contessa. “These too have been conceived and organised under a single overarching vision, with the aim of fostering dialogue between these initiatives, thereby enhancing and maximising their impact.”