Uffizi director calls for harsh sanctions against vandals who defaced Vasari Corridor columns

MILAN (AP) — The director of Florence’s Uffizi Galleries is calling for stiff penalties against vandals who spray-painted graffiti on exterior columns of the Varsari corridor. The corridor connects the famed museum to the Boboli Gardens. Political and cultural leaders have condemned the vandalism, the latest in a summer of high-profile acts defacing Italian monuments. Italian police are examining video to identify those responsible for the graffiti, which appeared overnight on the side of the corridor that faces the Arno River. Uffizi director Eike Schmidt says the vandalism was “clearly premeditated” and should be punished “with the hard-fist of the law.”