Vasari corridor in Florence how to get there. Vasari corridor in Florence. Vasari Corridor on the map of Florence
A landmark in Florence, the Vasari Corridor connects two other vibrant city landmarks: the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Pitti.
History of the attraction
The prehistory of the attraction began in the middle of the 16th century. Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I decided to move from the Palazzo Signoria(where at that time there was not only the palace of the Medici family, but also the government meeting room) to a larger house - a large family could no longer freely accommodate in the old house.
For these purposes it was purchased former home of banker Pitti, Palazzo Pitti. And the Palace of the Signoria has since become known as the “old house”, i.e. Palazzo Vecchio.
In 1564, the Tuscan ruler Cosimo de' Medici gave the architects instructions to build a covered gallery, which would connect the Palazzo Vecchio (the palace of the Tuscan government) and the Palazzo Pitti, the residence of Cosimo I himself.
This secret passage would allow members of the Medici family or government members move freely (and most importantly, secretly) from one palace to another without going into the city.
The construction of the “air bridge” was timed to coincide with a grand event in the Medici family - in honor of the wedding of the son of ruler Cosimo, Francesco Medici, and Giovanna of Austria from the Habsburg dynasty.
The author of the grandiose project was architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), who also took part in the construction of the main palaces of Florence. The construction of the Vasari crossing lasted for five and a half months.
In one place Corridor almost adjacent to the Church of Santa Felicita. A special window was cut into the wall for the Duke, and he could attend any of the services from his makeshift balcony. Moreover, he himself could see the service, but none of the parishioners saw him.
The passage has been preserved almost in its original form, despite multiple restorations. The small, barred, round windows in the wall remained the same as they were under the Duke. And here is the section of the crossing over the bridge over the Ponte Vecchio already equipped with panoramic windows - this was done in 1939 on the personal order of Benito Mussolini, who led distinguished guests along the Vasari corridor, and proudly demonstrated the panoramic view from the windows of the Arno River.
The last section of the Vasari covered passage was restored in 2013. Here are self-portraits of contemporary artists: any of the masters would consider it an honor to send a self-portrait to the gallery.
To date The Vasari Corridor is part of the Uffizi Museum. And in the Pitti Palace there is a museum of the Medici family: among the exhibitions are royal furniture, clothes of the ducal family, household items, silver and jewelry of that era.
Description
Corridor begins with "Hall of the Five Hundred", which was built at the direction of Savonarola. The hall was originally a spacious barracks that housed about 500 residents of Florence (hence the name). Later, Duke Cosimo ordered the architect Vasari to convert this room into a reception hall.
Then follow rooms belonging to the Uffizi Gallery - the first exhibitions begin here. And then, actually, a walk along the long passage. A small door in the wall of the Uffizi Gallery leads into History itself.
The length of the crossing is more than 750 meters. However, it does not connect the palaces directly: the corridor begins on the side of the Palazzo Vecchio (on its southern side), then goes around the Uffizi Gallery and, crossing the river, connects with Palazzo Pitti.
Corridor passes through the Pitti Palace and ends in the gardens on the palace grounds (Boboli Gardens). These gardens are also attractive in terms of architecture and garden design - sculptures, fountains and grottoes. The most famous of them is the Grotto of Venus, in the construction of which Giorgio Vasari was also involved.
The corridor is notable for the fact that many influential historical figures walked along it, from Cosimo de' Medici and the Pope to Bonaparte and Benito Mussolini.
This indoor gallery features the largest collection of self-portraits by Italian artists. Once, having attended a reception in the house of a Florentine doctor, the Tuscan ruler drew attention to the large collection of self-portraits that the owner of the house had collected (including self-portraits of Raphael Santi, Rubens, Diego Velazquez, Giorgio Vasari). Cosimo persuaded the doctor to sell him these paintings, but the owner refused to do so.
This doctor was a lonely man, without family or heirs, so the Duke rightly feared that the beautiful masterpieces of painting might get lost or fall into the hands of fraudsters.
Then Cosimo the First ordered the court artists secretly make copies of these portraits. After the doctor’s death, some of the portraits found new owners, and Duke Cosimo moved the surviving paintings to the palace - they formed the backbone of the main collection.
Later, having learned about this collection, many Italian artists began to send self-portraits to the Duke. The tradition continued after the death of Duke Cosimo, and even after the Medici dynasty ceased to exist.
The last Medici couple, Anna Maria Louise and her husband Johann Wilhelm, having no heirs of their own (which is why the dynasty was interrupted), transferred the entire collection of paintings to the city of Florence. Some of the paintings are today in the Vasari Corridor, and some make up the splendor of the Uffizi Gallery. But at the same time, Anna Maria set a condition: all paintings should never leave Florence, and should also be available to anyone.
In addition to the collection of self-portraits, the Vasari Gallery contains paintings by Italian painters of the 16th-18th centuries. In total, the collection contains more than 1,400 paintings.
True, some Some of the paintings were damaged in the explosion that occurred near the walls of the Uffizi Gallery in 1993. Then many paintings were damaged by shrapnel, and some have not yet been restored. Such paintings are exhibited at the very beginning of the exhibition.
The opportunity to see the Vasari Corridor with your own eyes is not available to everyone, but you can take a look at it in this video:
Opening hours, ticket prices
Currently, the Vasari Corridor is partially closed to tourists. It opens only a few times a year, on a number of public holidays.
It is also possible to visit the corridor as part of a group excursion, which is possible only by prior arrangement(call to the secretariat of the Uffizi Gallery).
Visiting the passage is only possible at certain times: on Tuesdays and Thursdays (tours start at 9.00 and 11.30), on Wednesdays and Fridays (tours start at 14.00 and 16.00).
Excursion cost– 85-95 euros (the price depends on the agency that organizes the tour of the Corridor).
Duration of the excursion- 2 hours.
Maximum number of people in a group – 15.
It is possible to slightly expand the excursion program, a walk through the Uffizi Gallery and the Vasari Corridor will include breakfast on the terrace in the Uffizi Gallery. Such an excursion will last 4 hours and its cost increases to 125-130 euros.
Tours are conducted in Italian. It is possible to take an audio guide (in English) when purchasing a ticket. There are no excursions or booklets in Russian.
It is prohibited to bring backpacks, large bags, cane umbrellas, or water bottles with you on the excursion. Taking photos in the gallery halls and in the Vasari Corridor itself in Florence is strictly prohibited (with the exception of a few works in the halls of the Uffizi Gallery).
Photography is only possible from the bridge over the Arno, where today there are sculptural compositions of the Duke and his family, as well as architectural creations of Italian masters.
If Florence isn't the only thing you want to see in Italy, then explore, another popular city among tourists.
You can learn more about the sights of amazing Padua, or take a special bus as part of a group excursion.
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(Firenze).
The 750 m long gallery appeared at the behest of the Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici, in 1565. The purpose of the construction was to connect through a secret passage the house on the western bank of the river, where the Medici family lived, with the Palazzo Vecchio, which housed the government of Tuscany. It would be possible to move along such a secret passage without leaving the city. The construction was timed to coincide with the day of the marriage between the son of Cosimo I - Francesco I de' Medici - and Joanna of Austria from the Habsburg dynasty. Therefore, construction was carried out in a short time: The gallery was built according to an architectural design (Giorgio Vasari) in 5 months.
Original construction techniques were used in the Vasari Corridor:
- Part of the corridor runs wall to wall with the Church of Santa Felicita, where a window-balcony was made so that Cosimo I was present at the service, not visible to visitors to the church;
- The most famous section of the gallery is located on and amazes with panoramic windows from which you can see all the way to the Ponte Santa Trinita bridge);
- During construction, jewelers' shops appeared on the Ponte Vecchio bridge instead of shops selling fish and meat products, so that unpleasant odors and paintings would not irritate high-ranking persons.
Along the secret passage of the Medici family
The corridor consists of several segments:
- From the Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio to the “Hall of the Five Hundred” (Salone dei Cinquecento), decorated by order of Savonarola and turned into a room for ceremonial receptions at the behest of Cosimo de’ Medici;
- Passage with busts and portraits of representatives of the Medici family in the Uffizi;
- The section of the gallery, which is now accessible only to organized groups on a special schedule and is easily recognizable by its round windows with bars on the outside, stretches along the embankment to the Ponte Vecchio bridge - this is where the unique collection of this repository is located;
- Corridor above the residential and commercial premises of the bridge over the Arno;
- Passages over residential buildings on the western bank of the Arno and along the Church of Santa Felicita, and from there to Palazzo Pitti;
- Transition to (Giardino di Boboli), decorated with fountains, grottoes, and sculptural compositions.
The Vasari Corridor in Florence was restored many times, but its appearance remained virtually unchanged. Changes were made only a few times:
- in 1939 the window area was increased by order;
- in 2013, a section dedicated to self-portraits by 21st century artists was added at the end of the indoor corridor.
Now the Vasari Gallery is part of the museum.
Treasures of the gallery
The Vasari Gallery houses paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. famous artists (Roma) and (Napoli). A special part of the collection is self-portraits of painters from Italy and other countries of the 16th-20th centuries:
- Peter Paul Rubens;
- Diego Velazquez;
- Orest Kiprensky;
- Boris Kustodiev;
- Ivan Aivazovsky;
- Marc Chagall and others
The collection of self-portraits is constantly growing: the artists consider it an honor to present the Vasari Gallery with a self-portrait.
The Vasari Gallery presents a collection of about one and a half thousand self-portraits and 700 other paintings. The uniqueness of the collection is that, with rare exceptions, originals are preserved here, giving a complete picture of the master’s work.
The Vasari corridor represents another page in the history of the development of art: here are paintings that were damaged as a result of the explosion at the Uffizi Gallery in May 1993. Fragments of paintings cut by shrapnel pasted onto black tablets, which it was decided not to restore, acquired symbolic meaning.
How to get
The exhibition housed in the Vasari Gallery is of particular value, however, due to the events of 1993, entry to the museum is limited. Until 2016, the corridor was open to tourists only a few days a year, during national celebrations.
In February 2019, the administration of Florence announced a preliminary date for the opening of the Vasari Corridor for tourists - no earlier than 2021!
According to the new plan, the entire Vasari Corridor will be accessible to everyone and will be part of a route designed to accommodate 500 thousand tourists annually.
Current: until the end of 2021 group excursions along the Vasari Corridor are not planned - it is impossible to get inside; the collection is being redistributed to the Uffizi Gallery and other palaces. Perhaps they will be organized upon request, you can see everything and place an order. Whether the Corridor will open exactly in 2021 or 10 years later is unknown. We'll keep you posted.
How to get there
There are several ways to get to the Vasari Corridor in Florence:
- walk from the train station;
- by buses D, C1 and C3;
- by taxi.
The Vasari Corridor in Florence allows you to immerse yourself in the world of art and feel the atmosphere of the ancient city and its legendary inhabitants.
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The Vasari Corridor is a covered corridor that is approximately one kilometer long. The corridor begins at Palazzo Vecchio, then passes through the Uffizi Gallery, along the Arno River, across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and ends at Palazzo Pitti.
It took the architect Giorgio Vasari only 5 months to build the Vasari Corridor. In 1565 the property was handed over to Cosimo I de' Medici. A corridor was built so that the Grand Duke could move freely, and most importantly safely, from the Palazzo Pitti residence, where he lived, to the Palazzo Vecchio, where the government was located.
Today the Vasari Corridor is part of the huge Uffizi Gallery. A huge collection of portraits and self-portraits dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries is exhibited here. The Vasari Corridor as a museum begins directly from the Uffizi itself, and ends at the Grotto Buontalenti in. Today, you can visit this place only as part of a group excursion, and only with the permission of the Uffizi Secretariat.
If you are in that part of the Vasari Corridor where it passes under the Ponte Vecchio bridge, then through the large panoramic windows you can see the amazingly beautiful nature on the banks of the Arno River. This place is especially popular with travelers.
Vasari Corridor on the map of Florence
Address: 50125 Firenze FI,
Photos and reviews of tourists
photo: gid_v_toscane Ponte vecchio con corridoio vasariano sopra 🍁🍂Ponte Vecchio and the famous Vasari corridor, which connects the Palazzo Vecchio and the Pitti Palace. Giorgio Vasari built it in just 5 months in 1565 on the orders of Cosimo I Medici.photo: Vasari Corridor, why is it so unique? Well, where else can you find so many self-portraits of famous artists in one place? where can you walk along the passage previously reserved only for the main family of Florence - the Medici? where you can look down on the Old Bridge and watch what is happening there, and then go further and pass through the church, pray and move on to the new palace? All this is the Vasari Corridor. And it was built in just half a year, according to the design of Vasari himself for the Medici family, when they moved to the new palace beyond the Arno, they had to cross the Old Bridge to the Old Palace, where all the main events of that time took place, there was a meat market on the bridge and the smell there was so-so 🤢It was not good for the dukes to inhale unpleasant aromas and they quickly built a corridor that runs through the Uffizi, along the old bridge and leads to the Pitti Palace. All this was timed to coincide with the wedding of Duke Francesco l. And now it is closed for restoration, so I am sharing with you photos taken before the closure of this extraordinary place⭐️
photo: realitalianna Kustodiev, Chagall, Rubens, Bernini, De Chirico...what unites all these artists? In general, this list is much longer, over a thousand names and they are all located next to each other, all of them are in Florence in a unique place on earth, in the Vasari corridor. The Vasari Corridor is not just the former VIP passage of the Medici family, which connected the Old Palace with the new palace of the Medici family - the Pitti Palace, now it is the most unusual museum in the world with the largest collection of self-portraits of artists and more. The length of the corridor is 1 km, but time stops here, especially for people in one way or another connected with art; there are so many familiar faces and unique self-portraits that it is even difficult to imagine how the Medici were able to assemble such a collection. Well, in general, what did they collect, and most importantly, they were able to preserve all this for the Florentines, even when the Medici dynasty came to its end👑👏
Vasari Corridor and collection of self-portraits
Vasari Corridor is a covered gallery that connects Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria with Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the Arno River. The corridor begins at the Palazzo Vecchio, passes through the Uffizi Gallery, runs along the right embankment of the Arno River, over the Ponte Vecchio bridge and further along the left bank (Oltrarno) through the Church of Santa Felicita ending in the Boboli Gardens.
The Vasari Corridor is a unique place. It is not easy to get into as it is usually closed to the general public. You can visit the corridor just book a tour.
Corridor designed Giorgio Vasari commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, was built in 1564 year in just 6 months. A corridor was created to allow the Grand Duke and his family, as well as their distinguished guests, to move freely and safely from their residence in Palazzo Pitti to the government palace of Palazzo Vecchio.
Just at that time, the butcher shops that were located on the bridge were replaced by jewelry shops by order of the Medici. The Florentine aristocrats really didn’t like the stench that stood around the bridge!
Today in the corridor there are more than 1000 paintings relating to painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the richest collection of self-portraits artists of the 16th – 20th centuries, among them Filippo Lippi, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Bernini, Delacroix, Enzor.
The collection of self-portraits was started by some representatives of the Medici dynasty, who acquired paintings by artists from various workshops in Europe. Later, some painters themselves began to give their self-portraits to the rulers of Florence. This tradition is still alive today.
In September 2013 The last section of the corridor was updated, where self-portraits of famous contemporary artists are now displayed.
NB: The Vasari Corridor is currently CLOSED for renovations. THE OPENING OF THE CORRIDOR IS PLANNED IN 2019.
One of the main goals in Florence was to enter the so-called. “Vasari Corridor” - in general, I was aware that they are not allowed in there just like that, only as part of organized groups, and where to look for this very organization that organizes it is absolutely unclear. I asked at the information center in the Uffizi Gallery - they just shrugged it off. But more about penetration methods below. First let's find out what this place is.
In 1565, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo I de' Medici (not to be confused with Cosimo I Vecchio/The Old), commissioned the architect Giorgio Vasari to design a covered gallery that would connect the Palazzo Pitti (the actual residence of the Medici on the west bank of the Arno River) with the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government. The corridor was supposed to allow Cosimo and his son Francesco de' Medici, as well as titled guests and government officials, to quickly and secretly move from one palace to another, without lavish trips to the city. The distance is actually small, the length of the gallery is only 750 meters.
And what is so interesting there, in this corridor? Not only did a lot of historical figures walk through it, from the Dukes of Tuscany and Roman popes, to Bonaparte and Hitler and Mussolini, the gallery contains a unique collection of paintings - it all started when Cosimo I learned about the collection of self-portraits of a certain Florentine doctor and really wanted have her for yourself. The doctor refused to sell the paintings and the Duke sent the best artists to redraw these portraits while they were within reach. Indeed, after the death of the doctor, a significant part of the source materials scattered to different owners. But copies of self-portraits commissioned by the Duke formed the backbone of the collection. Later, having learned about the new fun of the Duke of Tuscany, many great artists began to send him their self-portraits, the tradition continued even after the suppression of the Medici dynasty, and to this day sending your self-portrait to the Vasari corridor is considered a very honorable thing.
Here's the diagram. To walk from the Chapel of Eleonora of Toledo to Palazzo Pitti you don’t have to spend much effort.
As a result, I confronted the landlord - Senor Alessandro, I want to go into the Vasari corridor even if you burst! The owner scoured the Internet and came up with the address: Via dei Lamberti, building 1, office called "Florence Town", entrance from the corner of Via dei Calzaiuoli, second floor. It’s simply amazing how the Florentines manage to hide the right institutions that offer unique excursions - don’t they need money, or what?
Came. I asked when. Tomorrow, at 15:30, a group is being recruited. But expensive - 85 euros. Do you agree? Of course I agree!
The Palazzo Vecchio itself, built 1298-1299. The Chapel of Eleanor of Toledo is on the left side of the building, and you need to go to the right, to the Uffizi Gallery, whose edge is visible in the right corner.
Transition from Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi.
We pass control to the Uffizi Gallery and go up to the top floor. We are immediately greeted by a collection of busts and paintings dedicated to the Medici family.
Since there is no point in writing along the Uffizi, we will immediately go to the wing that is closer to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. That is, forward along this gallery, to the right and right again.
Separately, I will say that the group was small, I counted heads - 19 people including the guide. At the entrance to the corridor itself we were met by two Cerberus from the local guard and then accompanied all the way.
Thus, from the top floor of the Uffizi we go down the stairs into the corridor itself.
Immediately - a portrait of the last representative of the dynasty - Anna Maria Louise de' Medici with her husband, Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate. They had no children; the Medici family was extinguished in the male and female lines. Nevertheless, the Grand Duchess bequeathed the entire art collection of the family, accumulated over centuries, to the city of Florence - for which she receives our heartfelt gratitude.
Another turn, behind which the Vasari Corridor proper begins.
A long section begins, running over the Arno River embankment to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. The round windows covered with bars are authentic, as it was during the reign of Duke Cosimo.
The gallery of self-portraits has not yet begun, there is simply a collection of paintings from the 16th-18th centuries.
We turn left, the section above the bridge begins. Below are the famous jewelry shops. Let me remind you that the Ponte Vecchio is practically the only medieval bridge in Europe on which residential and commercial buildings have been preserved (there is also the Rialto Bridge in Venice, but it is not used for trade purposes so actively and is much smaller in scale).
This is what it looks like from the side - a gallery above the bridge with square windows and on the right hand along the Arno River.
But from the opposite side. These panoramic windows are a remake.
In 1938, Mussolini’s friend Adik came to visit him, as a result of which the Duce ordered large panoramic windows to be made in the corridor to please the visitor with a beautiful view of the Arno River. You can watch a video about Hitler's visit to Florence - at 7:00 both in these very windows.
And here is the view from these windows:
So, we have passed the first half of the corridor, to be continued.
