Museum
Uffizi Gallery
Florence · Tuscany
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Museum
- COUNTRY
- Italy
- REGION
- Florence · Tuscany
- DURATION
- 2 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
The Uffizi Gallery is one of the world’s finest art museums, and the single best place to see the Italian Renaissance. It is housed in the long U-shaped palace that Giorgio Vasari built for Cosimo I de’ Medici in the 1560s as the offices (uffizi) of the Florentine administration, and which the Medici later used to display their art collection. The galleries hold the supreme sequence of Florentine and Italian painting — Giotto, Masaccio, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo’s Annunciation, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian and Caravaggio — arranged roughly chronologically so the development of Renaissance art can be walked in an afternoon.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned Vasari in 1560 to build a block of government offices between the Piazza della Signoria and the river; the top floor was set aside as a gallery for the family’s growing art collection. Francesco I de’ Medici began the practice of opening the galleries to visitors by appointment in the late 16th century, making the Uffizi one of the earliest public art museums in Europe. The collection grew through Medici acquisitions and, when the family line died out in 1737, passed by treaty to the city of Florence on condition it never leave the city — which is why the collection is still intact. The gallery opened fully to the public in 1769.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera — the two icons of early Renaissance mythological painting, in the Botticelli rooms.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation and the early Adoration of the Magi — showing Leonardo’s transition from Verrocchio’s workshop.
The Tribuna — the octagonal room at the centre of the U-shaped gallery, designed by Buontalenti to display the Medici’s most prized antiquities and paintings.
Caravaggio’s Medusa and the Bacchus — among the finest Baroque works in the collection.
The corridor views — the windows of the upper galleries look out over the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
The Uffizi is the museum that defines the Renaissance, because it holds the works in the city where most of them were painted. Walking the chronological rooms is to watch Western painting reinvent itself over two centuries — from the medieval gold grounds of Giotto to the psychological realism of Caravaggio — and to see why Florence was the place it happened. For a visitor, it is the one museum in the city that cannot be missed, and the one that most rewards a slow, ordered visit.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
MAP & LOCATION
Uffizi Gallery
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
43.7677, 11.2553
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Florence
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Trattoria Sostanza — a historic trattoria since 1869, famous for its butter chicken and artichoke tortino, book ahead
All’Antico Vinaio — the city’s famous schiacciata bread sandwich, queues around the block
Trattoria Mario — a no-reservations lunch-only trattoria near the Mercato Centrale, honest Tuscan cooking
Osteria delle Tre Panche — a tiny wine bar serving the best maccheroni in the city, a few tables only
Ristorante Cibrèo — the classic Florentine restaurant, the place for ribollita and the chicken liver pâté
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Hotel Lungarno — a riverside boutique hotel overlooking the Ponte Vecchio, with a private art collection
Hotel Brunelleschi — a hotel built around a Byzantine tower in the historic centre, steps from the Duomo
Hotel Torre Guelfa Palazzo Acciaiuoli — a medieval tower hotel near the Ponte Vecchio, with a rooftop terrace
Hotel Cellai — a charming garden hotel in the San Lorenzo quarter, good value for a central stay
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
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