(ANSA) - Visitors to the famed Uffizi Gallery will soon be able to cast their gaze not only on masterpieces by Michelangelo and Botticelli but also on those produced by Tuscany's leading vineyards and farms.
Thanks to a joint initiative by the ministries for culture and agriculture, book shops and souvenir stores in Italian museums are beginning to display in their book shops and souvenir stores top quality wines, olive oil and other local products.
The slogan for the initiative is "Italian Flavor, When Food is Art", and it is being run by Buonitalia, a firm created by the ministry of agriculture to promote farm products which stand out for their excellence.
Selling quality regional farm products at museum stores was first experimented at the Capodimonte and Certosa di San
Martino museums in Naples and then at the archeological museum in Paestum, on the coast south of Naples.
At the the Uffizi the offerings from Tuscany will include excellent Brunello of Montalcino wine, the finest cold pressed 'virgin' olive oil, Vinsanto dessert wine and other delights.
Next spring, quality farm products will also be on display and up for sale at the Academy, which hosts Michelangelo's David, and the Pitti Palace, once home to the powerful Medici dynasty.
Speaking at the presentation of Buonitalia's latest project, Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno observed that "products from the farm and vineyard need to be promoted in a targeted way and this venue sends a clear message to museum goers: food is also an art".
"Our food products and specialities have always been considered examples and ambassadors of our culture. Now those who visit our museums will have the possibility of obtaining a better knowledge of our farm products, which are also unequaled masterpieces," he added.
"Italy has always been a superpower when it comes to the excellence of its agricultural goods because we focus on offering unique products of the highest quality," the minister said.
According to Buonitalia Chairman Fabrizio Mottironi, "more than selling the products, what we are trying to do is place them in a framework of art in order to demonstrate that fine foods and artistic masterpieces are expressions of the same culture".
Tuscan wines and farm products will go on sale at the Uffizi starting December 8. In the future these products will also be sold through the museum shop's website along with those from other Italian regions.
The types of wines and foods 'on exhibit' will rotate on a regular basis.
(Photo: Filippo Lippi's 'Madonna with Child and Two Angels' at the Uffizi Gallery).
