Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallery sits next to Florence’s Piazza della Signoria in the historic center of Tuscany, Italy. It ranks among Italy’s most significant and most-visited museums, and is also one of the world’s largest and best-known. Its collection features priceless works, especially from the Italian Renaissance. When the Medici family line ended, their art holdings were bequeathed to Florence through the Patto di famiglia, a pact arranged by the last Medici heiress, Anna Maria Luisa.

The building complex was started in 1560 by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de’ Medici. He wanted to centralize the various committees, agencies, and guilds from Florence’s republican era into one location—hence the name “Uffizi,” meaning “offices.” Construction continued under Alfonso Parigi and Bernardo Buontalenti, finishing in 1581. The top floor became a gallery for the Medici family and their guests, housing their Roman sculptures.

The internal courtyard is long, narrow, and open to the Arno River at its far end through a Doric screen that defines the space without blocking it. Architectural historians consider it Europe’s first regularized streetscape. Vasari, also a painter and architect, emphasized its perspective with matching facades, continuous roof cornices, unbroken cornices between floors, and three continuous steps along the museum fronts. In the 19th century, the niches in the piers alternating with columns of the Loggiato were filled with statues of famous artists.

The Uffizi brought administrative offices and the state archive under one roof. The plan to display prime artworks from the Medici collections on the piano nobile was carried out by Grand Duke Francesco I, Cosimo’s son. He commissioned Buontalenti to design the Tribuna degli Uffizi, an octagonal room completed in 1584 that showcased masterpieces and jewels, becoming a major attraction of the Grand Tour. Over time, more building sections were used to exhibit paintings and sculptures collected or commissioned by the Medici. For many years, 45 to 50 rooms displayed paintings from the 13th to 18th centuries.

Because of the vast collection, some works have been moved to other Florence museums, such as famous statues to the Bargello. A 2006 project expanded exhibition space by about 6,000 square meters to nearly 13,000 square meters, allowing public viewing of many artworks previously in storage. The Nuovi Uffizi renovation, begun in 1989, progressed well from 2015 to 2017, aiming to modernize all halls and more than double display space. A new exit was planned, and lighting, air conditioning, and security were updated. During construction, the museum stayed open, though rooms closed as needed and artwork was temporarily relocated. For instance, the Botticelli rooms and two others with early Renaissance paintings closed for 15 months, reopening in October 2016.

In 2016, over two million people visited, making it Italy’s most visited art gallery. During peak periods, especially July, wait times could reach five hours, though advance online tickets significantly reduced waiting. A revised ticketing system in 2018 cut queuing to just minutes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum closed for 150 days in 2020, and attendance dropped 72 percent to 659,043. Still, it ranked 27th among the world’s most-visited art museums that year. Works from the collection are available for remote viewing on Google Arts and Culture. The museum reopened in May 2021 after a renovation adding 14 new rooms and 129 artworks, aiming to give more voice to historically under-represented groups, including women and people of color.

The 1966 flood severely damaged Florence’s collections, including the Uffizi’s. Superintendent Ugo Procacci and other employees went to the museum early to save what they could. Cimabue’s crucifix in Santa Croce Church was among the most damaged artifacts, becoming a symbol of the flood’s devastation. The Uffizi’s Photographic Department rooms were affected, damaging equipment and photographs. On 27 May 1993, a car bomb by the Sicilian Mafia in Via dei Georgofili damaged parts of the palace and killed five people. The blast destroyed five artworks and damaged 30 more; some paintings were protected by bulletproof glass. The Niobe room, classical sculptures, and neoclassical interior suffered the most severe damage but have since been restored, though its frescoes were damaged beyond repair. On 22 July 2022, climate activists from Ultima Generazione glued themselves to the glass protecting Sandro Botticelli’s *Primavera*, demanding an end to fossil fuel use; the painting was undamaged. On 13 February 2024, members of the same group glued images of 2023 flooding in Tuscany to the glass protecting Botticelli’s *Birth of Venus* in protest over the Italian government.