Florence, Italy (CNN) — Its founder calls it “the biggest shakeup in Italy” in the past decade, it’s been hailed as a “vital way to combat overtourism,” and now it’s ready: the region of Tuscany has taken the first step towards becoming one giant gallery.

The Uffizi Galleries in Florence — Italy’s most visited museum, and home to perhaps the world’s greatest collection of Renaissance art — has launched its Uffizi Diffusi, or “Scattered Uffizi” project, which will see works of art taken from the gallery and displayed around the wider region of Tuscany.

Up to 100 regional galleries will be created in the next five years, in a bid to put a halt to the overtourism that has come close to overwhelming Florence in recent years.

Artworks will be re-homed in small towns and villages, in a bid to spread tourists — and their spending, as well as their impact on the environment — around the region, instead of centering them around the Florence honeypot.

The future will see ancient palazzos,…