Florence, Italy, offers one artistic revelation after another. Indeed, it's difficult for a visitor to know where to begin looking, what to see and what to skip. One thing is certain though--the Uffizi Gallery is a don't-miss attraction. Occupying the former administrative office building of the powerful Medici family, the Uffizi has one of the finest collections of Renaissance art in the world. For the crowds that fill its halls, the Uffizi delivers artistic triumphs and ecstasies at a level few museums can match.
Instructions
1. Begin your tour at the entrance at Piazzale degli Uffizi 6. You may be in line for one or two hours. You can also buy a reserve ticket in advance so you'll be able to get in at a specific time. Some of the rooms may be closed when you visit, so make sure to ask which ones are open when you go in. The hours are 8:15 a.m. to 6:50 p.m., though the ticket office closes at 6:05 p.m. The hours are extended in the summer. The Uffizi is a long, U-shaped building. Enter the sculpture-lined vestibule, go to the second floor, proceed into the East Corridor and head straight into Room 1, which showcases ancient sculptures and antiquities. Exit this room, go left and into Room 2, the second door on the left. Here are displayed three paintings of the Madonna and Child, painted by Duccio di Boninsegna, Cimabue and Giotto. Go left into Room 3, where Sienese paintings from the fourteenth century are showcased, with works by Simone Martini, Lippo Memmi and Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Turn right into Room 4, which focuses on fourteenth-century Florentine works by Taddeo Gaddi, Bernardo Daddi, Giottino, Andrea Orcagna and the Master of Saint Cecilia.
2. Turn right into Rooms 5 and 6, which are devoted to fifteenth-century International Gothic works by Lorenzo Monaco, Agnolo Gaddi and Gentile da Fabriano. Of special note are Fabriano's "Adoration of the Magi" and Monaco's "Coronation of the Virgin." Backtrack into Room 2, then left into Room 7, where you'll see Masolino and Masaccio's "Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and Angels" and Paolo Uccello's "Battle of San Romano." Go right into Room 8, which is devoted to the work of Filippo Lippi, his son Filippino and their students. To the left, Room 9 displays the works of bothers Antonio and Piero del Pollaiolo. Turn right into Rooms 10 through 14, which are really just one room devoted mostly to the work of Sandro Botticelli, including the famous "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus."
3. Proceed to the left to Room 15, which displays works by Pietro Perugino, Piero di Cosimo and Luca Signorelli, as well as Leonardo da Vinci's "Annunciation" and "Adoration of the Magi." Turn left into Room 16--the former Medici map room, which now houses Italian Renaissance paintings and second-century Roman works. Backtrack into Room 15, go out into the East Corridor and make a left into Room 18, the octagonal Tribune, which was designed to hold the very best of the Medici collections. It now includes works by Raphael, Alessandro Allori, Jacopo Pontormo, Carletto Caliari, Giorgio Vasari and Andrea del Sarto, as well as early Roman pieces. From the Tribune, go left into Room 17, a room that was once devoted to the display of scientific instruments but now houses sculptures and bronzes dating from Roman times to the nineteenth century. Return to the Tribune and go right into Room 19, which displays Northern and Central Italian work by the likes of Luca Signorelli and Pietro Perugino. Room 20 features the works of Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer and Hans Brueghel the Elder, including Dürer's "Adoration of the Magi" and Cranach's "Adam" and "Eve." Room 21 displays Venetian works by Giorgione and Giovanni Bellini, Room 22 the work of Hans Holbien the Younger, Albrecht Altdorfer and Hans Memling and Room 23 the work of Correggio and Andrea Mantegna.
4. Step out into the Arno Corridor and turn left into Room 24, a chamber filled with miniatures. From there, turn into the Arno Corridor, which naturally has an excellent view of the river, then turn right into the West Corridor and left into Room 25. This room includes Michelangelo's "Tondo Doni," and other Florentine works. Go left into Room 26, which highlights the early works of Andrea del Sarto and Raphael, including the former's "Madonna of the Harpies" and the latter's "Madonna of the Goldfinch." Next up, in Room 27, are the works of such sixteenth-century Florentines as Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo Pontormo, while Room 28 showcases the work of such Venetians as Sebastiano del Piombo and Titian, the latter's "Venus of Urbino" being the best-known work on display. Room 29 focuses on sixteenth-century works by such artists as Parmigianino and Dosso Dossi. Go left into Room 30, which has works by Garofalo and Ludovico Mazzolino.
5. Return to Room 29, then turn right into Room 31, which includes works by Veronese, Room 32, with works by Jacopo Bassano and Tintoretto, Room 33, a hallway with works by El Greco, Bronzino, Frans Floris, Giorgio Vasari, Jacopo Zucchi, Orazio Samacchini and Alessandro Allori, and Room 34, with works by Giulio Campi, Lorenzo Lotto and Giovan Battista Moroni. Go back into the West Corridor, turn left and left again into Room 35, where you'll see works by such Tuscans as Cigoli, Passignano, Santi di Tito and Federico Barrochi. Go back out into the West Corridor, turn left, pass the Buontalenti Staircase and Room 41 and turn left into Room 42, a room with Roman sculpture that was damaged during a 1993 car bombing. Go back into the West Corridor, go left and left again into Room 43, which features works by Mattia Preti, Domenichino, Guercino, Domenico Feti and Annibale Carracci, and Room 44, which showcases such Flemish and Dutch masters as Rembrandt. Turn right into Room 45, which includes eighteenth century works by Francisco Goya, Rosalba Carriera, Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, Jean Baptiste Siméon Chardin and Giuseppe Maria Crespi. Exit into the West Corridor again, pass another staircase, then go left into the bar or straight ahead to the café terrace, which looks out over the Piazza della Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Neptune Fountain and the statue of Grand Duke Cosimo I.
6. Finish by taking a staircase down to the first floor and the Arno Corridor with its enormous Medici Vase and, turning left, you'll find a suite of rooms that are directly under the second-floor East Corridor. First up is a room dedicated to the work of Caravaggio, which includes his "Bacchus" and "Medusa." The next rooms are given over to the works of Bartolomeo Manfredi, Gherardo delle Notti, the "Caravaggeschi" (or those who painted in the style of Caravaggio) and Guido Reni.
