FLORENCE.- After spending almost ten years abroad, Arturo Galansino is returning to Italy to take up his post as Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Aged 38, his impressive career has already taken him to the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts in London. Mr. Galansino was educated in Milan and subsequently in Turin, where he gained a research doctorate in Art History and Criticism.

The new director was chosen in the course of a selection process for which numerous Italian and foreign candidates applied. Their curricula were examined by an assessment panel which chose the most promising profiles. Mr. Galansino finally landed the post thanks to his competence, specialisation and experience together with his enthusiasm, determination and commitment.

"Our choice of Arturo Galansino – stressed Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who chairs the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi – reflects Palazzo Strozzi's philosophy of 'think global and act local'; in choosing Mr. Galansino, we have brought back to Italy a young man who has built up fantastic experience abroad and who can now help to develop culture in our own country. I hope this will serve as an example and an encouragement to many other young Italians."

Arturo Galansino takes the place of James Bradburne, who leaves Palazzo Strozzi after nine years of much-appreciated hard work marked by success and innovation.

Over the past nine years this Florentine institution has hosted such successful exhibitions of national and international renown as Cézanne in Florence (2007), Bronzino (2010), The Springtime of the Renaissance (2013), Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino (2014), Picasso and Spanish Modernity (2014–15) and Power and Pathos (2015), developing Palazzo Strozzi into a strong brand reputed for the quality of its exhibitions and its cultural activities.

The Fondazione's success is based primarily on its independent form of governance, which has allowed it to work on the basis of three-year plans, and secondly, on the financial stability guaranteed by the ongoing support of its public- and private-sector partners, proving that funding quality culture today can become a major driving force for economic growth. On that basis, Palazzo Strozzi has developed a cultural strategy of exceptional consistency, forging a management model which has rapidly spread and attracted worldwide recognition.

"Over the past few years I've been tracking the growing success of Palazzo Strozzi, which has gone from being a virtually empty shell to a major exhibition venue, taking its place on the national and international cultural scene – said Arturo Galansino, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi's new Director General – I plan to continue developing this project, turning the Palazzo into a space that is both increasingly vibrant and increasingly open to Florence and to the world at large. To translate this vision into reality, I am thinking in terms of exhibitions and events spreading outside the Palazzo walls, both cooperating with major international institutions and activating local synergies to impart added value to our artistic and cultural heritage. We will be continuing to explore and research the art of the old masters with exhibitions along the lines of Bronzino or Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino, while at the same time imparting a fresh boost to the role of contemporary art, bringing the leading players on today's art scene to Florence. We will also be increasingly active on the social networks with initiatives directly involving our visitors and forging stronger ties between Palazzo Strozzi and its audience. Being able to come back to Italy to head up such an institution isn't just an honour for me, it's also a source of deep personal satisfaction. I shall endeavour to do my best to steer Palazzo Strozzi towards new and ever greater achievements."