The Vasari Corridor reopens to the public

Florence (Italy). It is the most famous corridor in the history of art. Measuring just under a kilometer, the Corridoio Vasariano links the Uffizi Gallery to Palazzo Pitti. As its name suggests, we owe its design to the architect Giorgio Vasari who responded in just six months in 1565 to the requirements of Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany. In the midst of a period of unrest, the gravedigger of the Republic of Florence needed to be able to move safely and away from prying eyes from Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of power, to Palazzo Pitti, his private residence. The Medici could thus see the city they dominated without being seen. They could also admire the more than 200 portraits in their collection

© Uffizi

The total cost of the work, which began in 2022 and was completed in recent weeks, amounted to around 10 million euros. We must add a million dollars offered in 2023 by the American entrepreneur Raymond “Skip” Avansino. They were based on a draft of more than a thousand pages with nearly 2,500 photographs accompanying numerous tests of materials. The 16th century tiled floors have thus regained all their luster. But above all, the work made it possible to consolidate the structure to comply with the most recent safety standards and anti-seismic rules. A video surveillance system and the integration of ramps and elevators were added to make the corridor accessible to people with reduced mobility. While respecting the historical integrity of the structure, five new emergency exits were created including one after the Ponte Vecchio and one in the Cortile delle Cacce in the Boboli Gardens. Since December 21, the public can finally rediscover the Vasari Corridor (see ill.). Or rather discover it as it had become the symbol of elite tourism in these times of mass tourism. What we call “the prince’s route” with its 72 windows was only open sporadically for a few and expensive guided tours. The 2015 photograph of Matteo Renzi, then chairman of the council, taking it with Chancellor Angela Merkel had become a symbol of the exclusivity of this place. Its access will nevertheless be limited and authorized in one direction only, from the Uffizi to the Boboli gardens. The route begins on the first floor of the Uffizi Gallery, accessible from the Venetian Chapel area, and ends at the exit of the Pitti Palace. Since December 10, it has been possible to book your visit. Every twenty minutes, 25 people will be able to enter to walk, for around forty minutes, the 750 meters linking the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace. A stroll in the Vasari Corridor which is possible, by purchasing an additional ticket to the Uffizi Gallery, which you must have visited beforehand, for a total price of 43 euros. A price which had sparked the start of controversy. “This is much lower than that practiced by private agencies who grabbed the few tickets available before the 2016 closure, retorted Eike Schmidt, believing that

© Uffizi If the ticket price is consistent with the initial project of the former German director of the Uffizi, the same cannot be said of the development of the Vasari Corridor. His Italian successor has decided to leave, for the moment, its walls bare, exactly as they originally appeared before Cardinal Leopold de Medici installed his collection of self-portraits there in the 17th century.“In accordance with the commitment made to citizens, the day after I took office, the Vasari Corridor will be reopened to the public by the end of 2024 welcomed Simone Verde. For the museum, this is a crucial moment which allows it to heal a wound and restore the unity of its architectural history and that of its collections by guaranteeing greater ease of circulation within it. Visitors who wish to do so will be able to move from one bank of the Arno to the other, appreciating in all its extent the immensity, coherence and richness of the Medicean citadel of power and the arts. This opening goes hand in hand with the systematic work of redevelopment and museum recomposition which is underway and which concerns the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli gardens. »