The Vasari Corridor and a bit of the Uffizi

        There's going to be a very fancy wedding. All of your friends, heads of state are coming and you want to move about unencumbered....what to do? If you're Cosimo I de Medici you call your architect of choice Vasari and have him build you a corridor to get you from your home at the Pitti Palace to your office at the Uffzi.........has to be done, as Francesco is marrying Joanna of Austria.....and you never really know when you might need to make a quick exit from the city....did I mention we need to go through a few private houses....ok, lets do it...so construction of the Corridor began in 1564....oh, and did we mention that there's a time issue......has to be entirely completed within 6 months........the funny thing is that there was one character who didn't very much like Cosimo and wouldn't allow him to build thru his tower....the result...he built around it. You can see the triangular corbels as you walk across the Ponte to the Oltrano District, but far above from view you walk through the church of Santa Felicita in case you need a quick mass....


 The Ponte Vecchio with the Vasari Corridor running through and across it to the Pitti Palace

Primavera by Botticelli. Just one of the nice pictures Mr Medici collected. The Pitti Palace is not very well decorated tho....way to heavy.

The corridor which gives access to the rooms atop the Uffizi. This portion is open to the public and makes up part of the museum.

Spectacular dome encrusted in shells

The door to the hidden Corridor. You are escorted down by guards....this was a really private tour. We were 10 with the guide and the guard.

You descend down a flight of stairs. This was the section of the corridor which was damaged in the 70's during the mafia bombing.

The corridor itself is over a mile in length and works it's way through homes and businesses in the city.

It was used by Partisans during the 2nd world war to transport supplies. Eventhough Mussolini put in a set of windows to give Hitler the best view of the Arno.

Most people don't realize there's this hall running thru town.

The Uffizzi has the largest collection of artist's self portraits in the world. There are over 4000 of them some 700 of which hang throughout this long hall.

You could exit inside the Pitti Palace, if you were a Medici, but since we are not we had to exit thru the Boboli Gardens

The nondescript gray door on the left is the entrance from the garden.

This is really worth a visit as it's a pretty special tour, but it is very limited, only 6 times a day and only certain times of the year....and it may close at any time....so be sure to book when you visit the city.