The passage over the Arno River in Florence opens to the public for the first time

Florence – The Vasari Corridor over the Arno River in Florence will open to the public for the first time today after being under reconstruction for eight years, the Guardian reported. The covered corridor, 750 meters long, offers panoramic views of the city from its windows, and throughout history, it has been walked by dukes, dictators, and the powerful European elite.

The corridor has been completely renovated to comply with safety standards. Now, any visitor who pays an additional 18 euros (452 crowns) on top of the 25 euros (628 crowns) entrance fee to the vast Uffizi Gallery will be able to take a walk through the passage in the heart of Florence. The passage connects the gallery with the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens.

The corridor, designed by the Renaissance architect Giorgio Vasari, was commissioned in 1565 by the second Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici. The construction was completed in just five months. Cosimo's wealthy guests could admire the beauties of Florence through 73 small windows lining the passage, which allowed the duke to secretly observe the city. There is also evidence that Medici children played in the corridor, said Simona Pasquinucci, art historian and curator at the Uffizi Gallery.

For centuries, the monument was accessible only to the powerful. The fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini showed it to his guest Adolf Hitler in 1938. In recent decades, the corridor has only been open to study groups and has rarely been the site of private tours.

It is believed that the Vasari Corridor was inspired by an elevated passage connecting the Vatican with Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo. Pope Clement VII, a member of the Medici family, used it to escape during the sack of Rome in 1527.

The corridor has survived several wars. When retreating German troops blew up bridges in Florence in August 1944, the Ponte Vecchio bridge with the Vasari Corridor directly above it was the only one spared.

In 1993, parts of the corridor were severely damaged after the Sicilian Mafia Cosa Nostra detonated a car bomb parked beneath it. Five people were killed in the explosion. "The intent of the attack was not to destroy the corridor, but to show the state that the mafia is stronger," Pasquinucci stated.

> https://www.uffizi.it/en/corridoio-vasariano