Uffizi Gallery

You are standing in the Uffizi courtyard, a very long street-like square framed by twin wings. The name says it all: 'uffizi' means offices.

1Offices for a duke

In 1560 Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build a single home for the city's magistracies and guilds, under his control and a stone's throw from Palazzo Vecchio. A whole neighbourhood was pulled down to make room. Vasari designed this U-shaped perspective that frames the river at one end and the palace tower at the other. He died in 1574, and Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti finished the job.

2From offices to museum

Francesco I, Cosimo's son, began gathering works of art on the top floor, above all in the famous Tribuna. The collections grew with each generation of Medici. When the dynasty died out, the last of the family, Anna Maria Luisa, signed the 'Family Pact' in 1737: the collections could never leave Florence and would remain for the public's enjoyment. Thanks to that document, Botticelli, Leonardo and Raphael are still here.

In 1565 Vasari linked the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace with a raised passageway that crosses the river: the Vasari Corridor.

He built it in a few months for the wedding of Francesco I and Joanna of Austria. That way the duke could walk from home to office without mingling with the crowds.

3What to look for

• The statues in the pillars: Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo and other famous Tuscans, added in the 19th century.
• The arch at the far end, opening onto the Arno.
• The tower of Palazzo Vecchio, perfectly framed if you look back.