The Uffizi

History
Commissioned by Cosimo I dei Medici to Giorgio Vasari in 1560 and finished, according to the original project, by Alfonso Parigi e Bernardo Buontalenti in 1580, the Palazzo degli Uffizi (Uffizi Palace) stood up next to Palazzo Vecchio to play host to, after enlargement of the latter, the offices of the city magistrates. The building which extends choreographically with an U structure, to the river Arno, required the sacrifice of an ancient and glorious San Piero Scheraggio church, that was partly demolished and partly include into the new building. On the groundfloor Vasari placed high arcades divided by pillars breaking up with Doric columns on which was spread a lodge, initially without a specific destination. After the successor of Cosimo, Francesco I dei Medici gave to it the current function of the Gallery commissioning to Buontalenti the construction of the so-called Tribune, where the grand duke picked numerous objects, ancient and precious medals. Francesco had also put the first corridor of the gallery placing the Greek and Roman statues of the Medici, hence its name Gallery of Statues. After Francesco's death, Ferdinando I dei Medici moved from Rome to Florence the classical statues of Villa Medici enriching with the colletion, which is soon joined by the best examples of Armory Medici and a collection of Mathematical Instruments. The Gallery knew other substantial acquisitions in the seventeenth century with Ferdinando II, whose wife, Vittoria della Rovere, brought in dowry considerable estate of the Duke of Urbino Federico, his grandfather, which included, among others, precious works of Raffaello and Tiziano. But to enrich the collections of the Medici was especially Cardinal Leopold's estate to his grandson Cosimo III dei Medici, who had built to better accommodate it new halls and bathrooms, furnishing the Uffizi a new, more monumental entrance. Her daughter Anna Maria Ludovica, last of the Medici dynasty and widow of Elettore Palatino, after adding of Deutch and Flemish teachers, reached, with Family Pact of 1737, which the Lorena left the art collections put together by their family in perpetual pleasure to the city of Florence. The Uffizi Gallery became the first national art museum, designed to further increase over time and to give life to other prestigious museums of Florence.


Vasari Corridor
Built in only 5 months from Vasari in 1565, this passageway was ordered by Cosimo I dei Medici to connect the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace in Oltrarno, elected by him to reside in the last years of his grand duchy. Resting on a series of arches, the corridor crosses the river Arno above the Ponte Vecchio and, after turning around the Mannelli Tower, and passed the Santa Felicita church, finally arrives at the Palazzo Pitti. Inside there are many works on display of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as a large collection, in continuous extension, self-portraits of artists who lived in the sixteenth century.


The Uffizi Gallery
The reality of the museum gallery has known since the sixteenth century, a continuous evolution marking by successive acquisitions of works and collections. This has resulted in the gradual extension of the spaces needed for playing host to, so that the extension of the museum, which historically occupied only the Galleries, inglobed also part of the Vasari Corridor, and the Tribune. Following the transfer of the Public Records Office in 1852, also the buildings on the ground and first floor (originally destined for the Signoria Uffizi) made available to the Uffizi. This result entails, on the inside of project “Nuovi Uffizi”, a tripling of space that allows the placement of numerous works preserved in the museum stores. The layout arrangement for the rooms of paintings and sculptures, is set in principle on the basis of criteria that identify chronological sections corresponding to the production. So it's possible to admire progressively: the section of thirteenth and forteenth centuary, the section of fifteenth centuary, the hall dedicated to the Nordic painting, the Tribune, the section of the sixteenth and lastly section of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. .