Uffizi aims at curbing big crowds

ROME — The Uffizi Galleries in Florence are aiming to discourage visitor overcrowding and ticket scalpers.

Director Eike Schmidt says Italy’s most-visited art museum is meeting with the government office that protects citizen privacy on how to use purchasers’ ID photos to thwart scalpers looking to resell tickets at exorbitant prices.

Schmidt also told foreign media in Rome that the museum is working with an Italian university on algorithms to better manage crowds, who mass in front of masterpieces by such artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Botticelli.

On peak days, more than 10,000 visitors enter the galleries.

He’s also intent on slashing entrance wait-times, noting that a recent holiday saw lines of more than four hours. Schmidt noted the crowding also raises terrorism concerns.