At the time of construction of the Corridor, in the Old Bridge was held the meat market, but as not to bother the Grand Duke with bad smells while walking through the Corridor, the market was moved and replaced by shops of jewelers who are still on the Bridge.
In the Corridor, today are works that are part of the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, some of which, unfortunately, badly damaged by bombing in World War II, the flood of Florence in 1966 and the bomb of via Georgofili in 1993.
The collection includes Italian paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and a collection of portraits of Italian and foreign artists, the world's largest collection of portraits, are also exhibited many portraits of famous people of every age and nation, they are part of the iconographic section of the museum.
After crossing the Ponte Vecchio, the "Corridor", so the Vasari called it, revolves around the medieval tower of Mannelli, then through Via dei Bardi in the direction of the Palazzo Pitti. The Vasari Corridor passes by the church of Santa Felicita, here is an opening where the court could attend religious services without mingling with the people. The corridor finally reaches the Boboli Gardens at a point close to the famous Grotta del Buontalenti (Buontalenti Cave).
In future projects of the new Uffizi, also called Great Uffizi, the Vasari Corridor will leak air space of the museum. The escape air passing over the town allows the connection between the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, which will thus become a unique museum that will provide a consistent "understanding" of historical and cultural character of the Medici and Lorraine courts.
Visits: currently the Vasari Corridor is included in a special tour called the "Percorso del Principe" ("Path of the Prince"), it starts from the Palazzo Vecchio, is organized for small groups with a guide. The visits should be arranged for students through the secretariat of the Uffizi Gallery.
Tickets: Full € 28.50 Reduced (European Union citizens between the ages of 18-25 on presentation of a document) € 11.30. For information contact Firenze Musei, Tel: +39 0552654321
GIORGIO VASARI: Giorgio Vasari was a painter, an architect and a biographer. He was born in Arezzo and did apprenticeships in Florence, in the circle of Andrea del Sarto. He spent his life as a painter in Florence and Rome where he studied the methods of the basic technique of Mannerist painting.
In Rome, where he lived between 1542-1546, had his first job by Cardinal Farnese: the series of paintings in the Vatican Chancellery (Sala Regia in the Vatican, also known as the fresco of the 100 days of the Chancellery).
The activity of Vasari as a painter, however, was overshadowed by his work as a biographer, in fact he wrote the most important work of biography of artists of the Renaissance. The first edition of the notes he had collected during his travels in Italy, was published in Florence in 1550 with the title of "Vite dè più eccellenti architetti, scultori e pittori" (in 1568, Vasari published a second edition, much larger, containing also his autobiography). The book is the main and essential source of information on the art of the Renaissance in Italy.
After his time in Rome, Vasari returned to Florence, where, under the patronage of Cosimo de' Medici, who had in mind the celebration of the power of the Medici family and the glorious past of Florence, he was given the task of building the Uffizi (1560) and the Vasari Corridor.
Are located in Florence even his most important paintings (galleries and frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio, part of the frescoes of the dome of the Cathedral). Vasari was the first major collection of portraits, which he used as research material for his biography, in 1561 he founded the Academy of Portraits. He died in Florence in 1574.
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