Italian Renaissance art lights up Shanghai Bund

A show of 48 rare paintings from Florence's Uffizi Galleries, including ten authentic masterpieces of early Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, has attracted lots of attention since its opening in Shanghai ahead of the May Day holiday.

The "Botticelli and the Renaissance" exhibition kicked off on April 28 at the Bund One Art Museum and will last until August 27. It has now become one of the most popular art exhibitions in the metropolis.

"The exhibition provides an 'in-depth tour' of Italian history and culture for the Chinese audience," said Xie Dingwei, executive curator of the museum.

"Through the beauty of the Renaissance masters' artworks, the exhibition creates more opportunities for dialogue and exchange between the people of two countries with millennia of civilization," Xie added.

"I've been very interested in the history of the famous Medici family in Europe during the Renaissance, yet I haven't traveled to Europe," said Zhao Gong, a white-collar worker in Shanghai. "After viewing the masterpieces, I cannot wait to visit Florence and the Uffizi Galleries."