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Vasari Corridor

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The Corridor was built in 1564 by Giorgio Vasari. It served to link up the Pitti Palace, where the Grand Duke resided, with the Uffizi (or offices) where he worked.

 

It is a covered walk, almost a kilometre in length, an overhead passageway that starts out from the West Corridor of the Gallery, heads towards the Arno and then, raised up by huge arches, follows the river as far as the Ponte Vecchio, which it crosses by passing on top of the shops. The meat market on the bridge was at this time trasferred elsewhere, so as not to offend the Grand Duke's sensitive nose with unpleasant smells on his walk, and replaced (from 1593) with the goldsmiths who continue to work there today.

On the other side of the Arno, the corridor passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita. Down the tops of the houses and the gardens of the Guicciardini family until it finally reaches the Boboli gardens (one of the exits stands beside Buontalenti's Grotto) and the apartments in the Pitti Palace.

 

The passageway contains over 1000 paintings, all dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the important collection of Self-portraits by some of the most famous masters of painting of the 16th to the 20th century like Bernini, Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canova, Hayez, Corot, Ingres, Delacroix, Ensor and many others.

 

This photo is taken from the Uffizi

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Uploaded on August 1, 2009
Taken on June 9, 2009