diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/atk/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/atk/package.py
index 5a12faa1ffa..b66d372a4d8 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/atk/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/atk/package.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class Atk(Package):
     depends_on('gettext')
     depends_on('pkgconfig', type='build')
     depends_on('gobject-introspection')
+    depends_on('libffi')
 
     def url_for_version(self, version):
         """Handle gnome's version-based custom URLs."""