wonderful
FLORENCE

You can reach the Galleria degli Uffizi - Uffizi Gallery from Piazza Duomo by walking down Via dei Calzaiuoli to Piazza della Signoria, it is located next to the Palazzio Vecchio.

 

Address: 1 Piazzale degli Uffizi
Opening hours: every day from 8:15 am to 6:50 pm. Closed on Mondays. Due to the high number of visitors, it is strongly recommended to make a reservation for a specific day and time well in advance.
Price: 20 € from March to October, 12 € from November to February. The price includes the entrance to the archaeological museum.

 

 

The building was built by order of Cosimo I to house the offices of his administration. Francis I arranged the upper floor to house the Medici art collection. The collection was bequeathed by Anne Marie Louise, daughter of the last Grand Duke, on condition that it never leave Florence, but it was so rich that it was divided among the various museums of the city, with the paintings remaining in the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace.

 

Vasari also built the long corridor that connects the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti. Given the size and richness of the museum, it is illusory to want to visit it in one go. It is better to dedicate the visit mainly to the first rooms dedicated to the paintings of the Florentine Renaissance.

 

Room 2 - Here you can observe the evolution of painting from Byzantine hieraticism (Cimabue and Duccio) to perspective and the humanity of faces (Giotto).

 

Photo : source Wikipedia

 

Room 7 - The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello whose painting, essentially in the figuration of horses, could be a modern abstract painting.

 

Photo : source Wikipedia

 

Room 8 - The double portrait of Federico di Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza shows the emerging influence of Flemish painting.

 

Rooms 10 and 14 - These are the most visited rooms of the museum because they are dedicated to the works of Sandro Botticelli with the Birth of Venus and Spring, whose symbolic interpretation remains a great subject of discussion. But you should also take a look at the other works exhibited in these rooms.

 

Photo : source Wikipedia

 

Room 15 - It houses two of the rare paintings attributed to Leonardo da Vinci: the Adoration of the Magi, which is still in the drawing stage, and an Annunciation whose attribution to the painter remains controversial.

 

 

Room 18 - This small octagonal room allowed François I de Médicis to gather the most beautiful pieces of his collection, including the Venus known as the Medici, which is certainly a Hellenistic copy of an original by one of the most famous Greek sculptors, Praxitèle.

 

Room 25 - The Tondo Doni, named after its commissioner, is the only surviving painting by Michelangelo and, moreover, it is inserted in its original frame.

 

Room 26 - The Virgin with Goldfinch presents a figure of the Virgin full of grace and sweetness.

 

Room 28 - Titian's Venus of Urbino shows a woman sure of her beauty, naked, looking the viewer in the face.

 

The terrace of the Cafeteria will allow you to relax and admire the view of Piazza della Signoria and the roofs of Florence.

On your way out, don't forget the room on the first floor dedicated to Caravaggio, with the sensually posed adolescent Bacchus and the petrifyingly powerful Medusa head painted on a shield.

 

After visiting the museum, continue on to the banks of the Arno River where you will have beautiful views of the Ponte Vecchio and the banks of the river.