The Uffizi Gallery, which was built in the 16th century to be the administration offices of the Medici (Uffizi in Italian), is today one the most famous art museums in the world. It’s not hard to understand why. In this gallery we are literally diving into the ocean of masterpieces from the Renaissance and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Join my tour to single out the best and avoid getting the “Stendahl’s syndrome”!
I’ll take you on a fun trip through art history. It’s a unique experience, a real wow feeling, to contemplate Botticelli’s colors and technique in the “Birth of Venus” and the“Allegory of Spring”, not to mention the unbelievable artworks by the great masters such as Piero della Francesca, Filippo Lippi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio.
I’ll show you the beautiful Tribune, where the Medici kept their most imposing art treasures.
We will look at the recently restored map room, the portraits of the VIPs of the past including the Medici and the celebrated collection of self portraits of the artists. There will also be time for a coffee if you need a break and a chance to go wild in the gift shop.It was Cosimo I who in the mid 16th century commissioned the new offices next to the Palazzo Vecchio where he both lived and worked. His favorite architect, Giorgio Vasari, laid out this elegant building which was partly transformed into a museum already at the end of the same century.
The Medici were already in the 1400s known to be great patrons of the artists and fine connoisseurs of art and culture. The Medici collection had no limits. Any beautiful object was regarded as an artwork and displayed in the Uffizi Gallery. No other dynasty could boast such an impressive amount of art treasures.
