The Vasari Corridor
Corridorio Vasariana
The Corridor was built in 1564 by Giorgio Vasari in only five months at the time at the direction of Cosimo I. It provided a link between the Palazzo Vecchio, where the grand ducal family resided, and their newly acquired country property, Palazzo Pitti, in time for the wedding between Francesco de' Medici and Joanna of Austria.
It is a covered walk, almost a kilometer in length, an overhead passageway that begins on the south side of Palazzo Vecchio, travels through the Uffizi, where it exits from the West Corridor of the Gallery. It then heads towards the Arno and then, raised up by huge arches, follows the river as far as the Ponte Vecchio, which it crosses by passing on top of the shops. The meat market on the bridge was at this time transferred elsewhere, so as not to offend the Grand Duke's sensitive nose with unpleasant smells on his walk, and replaced (from 1593) with the goldsmiths who continue to work there today.
On the other side of the Arno, the corridor passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita, where it was possible for the grand ducal family to attended mass without ever leaving the privacy of the corridor, and then travels through the tops of the houses and the gardens of the Guicciardini family until it finally reaches the Boboli gardens , where there is an exit near Buontalenti's Grotto. A later addition connects the corridor to the palace itself.
In the middle of Ponte Vecchio the corridor is characterized by a series of panoramic windows facing the Arno, in the direction of the Ponte Santa Trinita. These replaced the smaller windows of the original construction in 1939, by order of Benito Mussolini. The larger windows were installed for an official visit to Florence by Adolf Hitler to give him a panoramic view of the river.
In its Uffizi section the Vasari Corridor is used to exhibit the museum's famous collection of self-portraits.
The area closest to the Uffizi entrance was heavily damaged by a bombing commissioned by the Italian mafia on the night of 27 May, 1993. When a car bomb was detonated next to the Torre dei Pulci, located between via Lambertesca and via de' Georgofili, this section of the Uffizi Gallery was among the buildings damaged, and several artworks in the Corridor were destroyed. These paintings, some hopelessly damaged, have been pieced back together and placed back on their original spot to serve as a reminder of the event.
It is a covered walk, almost a kilometer in length, an overhead passageway that begins on the south side of Palazzo Vecchio, travels through the Uffizi, where it exits from the West Corridor of the Gallery. It then heads towards the Arno and then, raised up by huge arches, follows the river as far as the Ponte Vecchio, which it crosses by passing on top of the shops. The meat market on the bridge was at this time transferred elsewhere, so as not to offend the Grand Duke's sensitive nose with unpleasant smells on his walk, and replaced (from 1593) with the goldsmiths who continue to work there today.
On the other side of the Arno, the corridor passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita, where it was possible for the grand ducal family to attended mass without ever leaving the privacy of the corridor, and then travels through the tops of the houses and the gardens of the Guicciardini family until it finally reaches the Boboli gardens , where there is an exit near Buontalenti's Grotto. A later addition connects the corridor to the palace itself.
In the middle of Ponte Vecchio the corridor is characterized by a series of panoramic windows facing the Arno, in the direction of the Ponte Santa Trinita. These replaced the smaller windows of the original construction in 1939, by order of Benito Mussolini. The larger windows were installed for an official visit to Florence by Adolf Hitler to give him a panoramic view of the river.
In its Uffizi section the Vasari Corridor is used to exhibit the museum's famous collection of self-portraits.
The area closest to the Uffizi entrance was heavily damaged by a bombing commissioned by the Italian mafia on the night of 27 May, 1993. When a car bomb was detonated next to the Torre dei Pulci, located between via Lambertesca and via de' Georgofili, this section of the Uffizi Gallery was among the buildings damaged, and several artworks in the Corridor were destroyed. These paintings, some hopelessly damaged, have been pieced back together and placed back on their original spot to serve as a reminder of the event.