Secret Renaissance Passageway Reopens in Florence

A private passageway with exclusive city views—once reserved for the wealthy Medici family of Florence—is opening to the general public for the first time in its nearly 500-year history. Following eight years of renovations, the new-and-improved Vasari Corridor welcomed its first visitors this week.

The Vasari Corridor was designed by Giorgio Vasari, the Italian Renaissance architect and author whose work laid the foundation for modern-day art history. Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned Vasari to construct the private passageway so the Grand Dukes could travel undisturbed from their residence at Pitti Palace to the seat of government in the Palazzo Vecchio. Construction on the elevated tile-roofed corridor lasted just five months. The result was a secret passageway measuring over 750 meters, beginning at the Uffizi Galleries and ending in the Boboli Gardens.

The Vasari Corridor passes over the streets of Florence, running along and crossing the Arno River atop the iconic Ponte Vecchio. It enters palaces, passes the Mannelli Tower and Church of Santa Felicita, and boasts exclusive panoramic views of the historic Italian city. Parts of the Vasari Corridor have been used to display art from the Uffizi Galleries’ collection since the 18th century. In more recent decades, the passageway occasionally opened up for private tours before closing in 2016 for repairs.

The Medici Family of Florence

The House of Medici was an Italian banking family whose wealth and influence shaped Tuscany and Florence from the 15th to the 18th centuries. The family consolidated political power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de’ Medici and his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent during the first half of the 15th century. The Medici Bank was the largest and among the most prosperous in Europe. The family handled finances for Vatican City, the seat of the Roman Catholic church, and eventually produced four popes.

The Medicis were also prolific patrons of the arts. They financed the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, as well as Florence Cathedral. Through every phase of the Italian Renaissance, the Medicis supported leading artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, among many others. They also commissioned such Renaissance masterpieces as Birth of Venus by Botticelli and David by Donatello.

The Vasari Corridor closed in 2016 to facilitate extensive repairs and restoration. Now, starting this month, the Renaissance-era passageway offers ticketed public opening hours for the first time. The main attraction of the restored Vasari Corridor is its 73 windows, which offer spectacular city views once reserved for the Grand Dukes of the Medici family. The renovations also modernized the corridor’s structure to adhere to safety, accessbility, and energy-saving regulations. Visitors to the Vasari Corridor enter through the Gallery of Statues and Paintings at the Uffizi, walk through the core of the Ponte Vecchio, and exit at the Boboli Gardens.