What to see at the astonishing Uffizi Gallery.

The Uffizi Gallery is a breathtaking museum to immerse yourself in art, to enjoy the history of the masterpieces and that of their artists. If you want to visit the Uffizi and you do not know what to see, then this article is for you.

The Uffizi Gallery

The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most famous and visited museums in the world, located in Florence. It contains some of the greatest ancient masterpieces, which is why thousands of people visit the museum every year, despite the queues to buy tickets and the ramps consisting of 141 steps necessary to reach the second floor.

Once there, however, we forget the effort made to reach it and we are enchanted by the rare beauty of this museum.

The gallery dates back to 1560, built by Giorgio Vasari, and used by the Medici for their private collections. The latter grew substantially thanks to Francesco I, who built inside the gallery an octagonal space, the Tribune, in which to place the family collection.

Finally, we must surely thank Leopoldo di Lorena, who in 1769 opened the Uffizi to the public, and allowed the masterpieces of this museum to be admired by everyone.

Where to start visiting the museum

The museum is divided into 3 floors, connected by large staircases, which date back to the Medici era.

On the ground floor, we find the ticket office, the entrance to the museum, and a shop, where you can buy souvenirs and much more.

Going up to the first floor, we find several halls that attract our attention, such as the 'Cabinet of Drawings and Prints', a collection, composed of over 177,000 specimens - drawings and prints - started, around the mid-seventeenth century, by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici and still growing nowadays. 

It is on the second floor, however, that you will find the greatest masterpieces. Composed of 45 rooms with works of art ranging from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, this floor is a real wonder and it is impossible not to be amazed. Here we also find several sculptures placed in the three corridors of the building and the museum bar.

After this, we go down again to the first floor where we find other halls, such as those dedicated to Raphael and Caravaggio, and then we go down to the ground floor and head towards the exit.

5 of the most famous artworks

• The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli

This Botticelli’s canvas is one of the most famous Renaissance masterpieces. Romantics believed that the subject was not modeled after an Aphrodite statue named Aphrodite of Knidos, as Botticelli affirmed, but the model was Simonetta Vespucci, a Florentine trader’s wife, with whom Botticelli had fallen in love. The same hall hosts also another wonderful and famous work of art by Botticelli: Primavera (Spring).

• Annunciation, Leonardo Da Vinci

This renowned painting was the first one to be commissioned to Leonardo Da Vinci. He painted the Annunciation when he was still very young, but despite this, the work already shows the famous style and techniques of Leonardo.

• Tondo Doni, Michelangelo Buonarroti

This is the only painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti that we can find in Florence and it was made in 1504 on the occasion of his marriage to Maddalena Strozzi.

• Medusa, Caravaggio

Caravaggio painted dramatic scenes that would most definitely have made the people of his time, maybe even today’s people, feel uncomfortable, and this painting is not an exception. To Medusa is dedicated an entire room and it is one of Caravaggio’s most famous and powerful works.

• Dukes of Urbino, Piero della Francesca

This is a famous double portrait of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife Battista Sforza, represented in profile so that their emotions could not transpire. In this work, Piero della Francesca used the typical XV-century Italian style of portraiture, in contrast with the Flemish style that depicted portraits in the three-quarters position. Also the pallor of the duchess, in contrast to the darker complexion of her husband, could allude to the fact that she died very young in 1472.

Halls of the Uffizi

Inside the Uffizi, there are 45 rooms located on the first and on the second floor, in which there are different paintings. The rooms are divided by artist or artistic period and among these, for example, we find room 2, that of Giotto and of the thirteenth century, which has a trussed ceiling, similar to that of many ancient churches, ideally introducing us to medieval sacred art. Also famous is room 15, that of Leonardo Da Vinci, which exhibits the early works of the great Leonardo da Vinci, before he moved to Milan in 1482, and in which the Annunciation is exhibited.

Vasari Corridor

This amazing corridor is an elevated path that connects Palazzo Vecchio with Palazzo Pitti passing through the Uffizi and over the Ponte Vecchio. The Duke Cosimo I de Medici ordered the Vasari Corridor construction in 1565 and it was built in just nine months. The idea of the elevated route was born to allow the Grand Dukes to move freely and safely from their residence to the Government Palace because at that time the support of the population towards the Duke was still uncertain.

Unfortunately, since 2016 the corridor has been closed for renovation, but we hope that it will reopen soon because, like all the rest of the museum, the corridor is a true work of art.