The Vasari Corridor

The Vasari Corridor was built by the celebrated architect Giorgio Vasari in just five months during 1565 to enable the Grand Dukes to move freely – and safely – from the seat of government Palazzo Vecchio to their residence in Palazzo Pitti.

This place, which has been closed to visits since 2016 for refurbishment, will reopen to the public with a special itinerary and ticket linked to the Uffizi Gallery, once the modernisation, air-conditioning and lighting works have been completed, making it fully accessible and open to all.
Self-portraits will no longer be exhibited on the walls, as was the case before the work began; in fact, these will find a more appropriate location within the Uffizi Complex.

Instead, works of ancient sculpture (busts and inscriptions), the detached frescoes created in the 16th century at Vasari's behest and which decorated the external part of the Corridor until the 19th century, and two Memorials dedicated respectively to the Georgofili attack in 1993 and to the bombing of Florence during the Second World War will be exhibited.

The Corridor was created to guarantee a safe and fast connection between the two palaces for Grand Duke Cosimo I; to realise it, important interventions were made on the urban structure, for example transferring the meat market that took place on the Ponte Vecchio elsewhere, to avoid unpleasant odours; the goldsmiths' shops, still present today, were moved in its place.
Some houses were expropriated, even an internal passageway was created above the façade of the church of Santa Felicita, so that the grand ducal family could attend services unseen, thanks to a balcony protected by a grille inside the church.

From the windows of the Corridor, which are clearly visible along the route and also above the Ponte Vecchio, one enjoys unprecedented views of the city.