2023-11-24 08:17:16
City trips to Italy
Florence opens the Medici secret passage to visitors
Previously, you could only experience the famous “Corridoio Vasariano” in Florence on privately organized tours, but it has been completely closed since 2016. But from next May, the Medici family’s private path across the city’s rooftops will be opened to the public.
Status: 24.11.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes
The Vasari Corridor tour begins at the Uffizi Gallery with its world-famous collection of paintings
Quelle: REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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No city guide to Florence leaves out this story: Prince Cosimo de Medici once did not want to mix with the common people in order to get from his residential palace, the Palazzo Pitti, to his office at the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1565, he had his master builder Giorgio Vasari build a princely corridor, the Corridoio Vasariano, for the approximately 960 meter long route. Because there was already no more space on the ground and there was a river to cross, Vasari quickly built the Fürstengang at a lofty height.
In the past, the Corridoio Vasariano was only open to special and expensive private tours. And since 2016, the famous corridor has been completely closed for restoration work. Since then, the German director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt, has had the legally required emergency exits and disabled access installed. The world-famous self-portrait collection was also removed from the corridor that will in future connect the two museums, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace.
On the official one Uffizi website the date has not yet been confirmed. But recently the Tuscan regional president Eugenio Giani officially announced the reopening. On the occasion of the announcement of a million-dollar donation from the foundation of the American iron inventor Edwin L. Wiegand, Giani announced: The “new” Fürstengang will be inaugurated on May 27, 2024, 450 years after the death of its two builders, Cosimo de Medici and Giorgio Vasari . The prince died a month before May 27th, the architect four weeks later.
The arcades of the Corridoio Vasariano on the banks of the Arno, with the Ponte Vecchio visible in the background
Quelle: Getty Images/Maremagnum
In the future, visitors should not even have to pay anything to use the corridor. The politician has already decided that the reopening will happen “in a new way”: namely for everyone. In practice, it seems that access to the Vasari Corridor will be included in the combined ticket for the Uffizi and Pitti Palace. That makes sense – after all, the corridor connects both museums in a spectacular way.
The Corridoio Vasariano offers spectacular views
The users of the corridor will have to do without the self-portrait collection, but hardly anyone noticed it before because everyone was too busy looking out the windows. In any case, you will have a lasting experience in the future.
The visit begins in the Uffizi, the world-famous collection of paintings, whose impressive queues can be elegantly passed by using a reserved online slot. It’s worth making a first stop on the third floor at the front with the magnificent view of the Arno and Ponte Vecchio: the Vasari corridor runs over the roofs of the shop bridge and can’t be seen better from anywhere than from this panoramic window.
View of the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio
Quelle: Getty Images/Photography by Jeremy Villasis. Philippines.
Things really start between room 25 and room 34: If you turn left here (and probably have to present your combination ticket), you’ll find yourself in the middle of the corridor. Even those who know Florence will stand in fascination at the windows and, like the Medici once did, look over the heads of their subjects, watch the hustle and bustle below on the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and gain insights into the Florentine alleys through porthole windows. In addition to the well-known Buontalenti grotto in the Boboli Gardens, the Vasari corridor is coming to light again.
A symbol of the power of the Medici in Florence
Beyond the Ponte Vecchio, the power of the Medici is evident: the corridor partly runs straight through the residential buildings. At one point he even comes across a place of worship: in the church of Santa Felicità, the princely corridor of Florence grazes the gallery, giving a clear view through windows of those praying far below. The Medici used the access in their own way: the shy royal family had their own prayer box set up here.
Der Vasari Corridor an der Westseite der Kirche Santa Felicità
Source: picture alliance/imageBROKER/Lenz, G.
To be honest: Despite the nice story with Cosimo, the historical reason for the construction of the Vasari corridor was different. The decisive factor was the wedding of Cosimo’s son Francesco to the Habsburg woman Johanna of Austria. The collection of paintings on the third floor of the Uffizi had just been completed, but the representative staircase later built by Buontalenti had not yet been completed. And so the corridor, which was hastily created within five months, formed a befitting entrance.
From the corridor you can either enter the Boboli Garden at the Grotta Grande or continue directly into the Pitti Palace
Those: Getty Images/Laura Lezza
Incidentally, Vasari stole the idea from none other than Leonardo da Vinci. He had recently planned a similar work for the Sforza royal family in Milan.
Additional Information:
On the official website uffizi.it/en/corridoio-vasariano The reopening of the Corridoio Vasariano had not yet been confirmed at the time of going to press. The Italian-language version also mentions access on the ground floor and a special ticket for use. Through unofficial websites like ticketsflorence.com Private tours of the Vasari corridor will also continue to be offered at a price of 65 euros per person. The Uffizi museum management warns against unofficial sellers.
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