Uffizi plans to open Corridoio Vasariano to all

FLORENCE, ITALY – Uffizi director Eike Schmidt intends to make the Corridoio Vasariano (Vasari Corridor in English) joining Florence’s world-renowned gallery to the Pitti Palace via Ponte Vecchio accessible to the general public.

“My aim is to eliminate privileges and offer the possibility, not the obligation, of passing through the Vasari corridor to Palazzo Pitti on a ticket separate from the one giving access to the Uffizi, and which is in line with normal prices for museum access,” the new German director of Uffizi said Monday March 7, 2016.

This plan is motivated in part by the need to better protect the collection started by Cardinal Leopoldo dei Medici, which are currently exposed to extremes of temperature in winter and summer.

In the fact, the director spoke of plans to return the self-portraits currently displayed in the corridor to their original exhibition space in the Uffizi gallery.

“Due to contracts stipulated in the past, and on which I’m unable to intervene for legal reasons, until now the Vasari corridor has been accessible prevalently through tour operators and travel companies, for prices starting at 45 euros per person,” Schmidt said.

Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Vasari Corridor joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing the Lungarno dei Archibusieri and then following the north bank of the River Arno until it crosses the Ponte Vecchio.

At the time of construction the Torre dei Mannelli had to be built around using brackets because the owners of the tower refused to alter it. The corridor covers up part of the façade of the chiesa di Santa Felicita, then snakes its way over rows of houses in the Oltrarno district, becoming narrower, to finally join the Palazzo Pitti.