The Vasari Corridor
The Corridor was built for Grand Duke Cosimo I in 1565 to connect the Uffizi Palace and the Pitti Palace. The architect of the court, Giorgio Vasari, designed this extraordinary ‘aerial’ itinerary: exiting the Uffizi, it passes on the 14th century shops of the Ponte Vecchio, it crosses the via de’ Bardi, overlooks the church of Santa Felicita and enters the Boboli Gardens.
For the Medici the Corridor was a safe indoor path, far from the crowded streets, used every time they had to go on foot from one palace to the other. Today the Corridor is a section of the Uffizi Gallery, normally not open to the public: it displays Seicento and Settecento paintings and the largest collection on the world of self portraits, started in 1664 by Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici.
