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The Secret Passageway Of The Medici: Vasari Corridor
di Andira Vitale
Built during the reign of the Grand Dukes, the Vasari Corridor connected the Pitti Palace, where the Grand Duke resided, with the Uffizi (or offices), where he worked. This structure, approximately 750 meters long, was built by the architect Giorgio Vasari in 1565. Rulers used the bridge to reach the Palazzo Vecchio from the Pitti palaces without being disturbed and without risking their safety.
It was a continuous passage between the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi for five centuries. Over history, dukes, dictators, and Europe’s illustrious elite have walked through the Vasari corridor, a narrow, 750-metre-long elevated passageway crossing the Arno River in Florence. Cosimo’s well-heeled guests could marvel at the wonders of Florence through the 73 small windows lining the route, which also allowed the duke to keep a secret watch over the city. The panoramic aspect has always made the passageway enjoyable. The evidence suggests that Medici children played in the passageway. Starting from a private entrance on the first floor of the Gallery of Sculpture and Painting, we walk across the Ponte Vecchio and embark on a journey beyond the Arno towards the Boboli Gardens and the Palazzo Pitti Palace. More than just a journey; we go back to when ıt was created.
Medici was the ruler of Florence when the Vasari Corridor was built, and while his family had gone through a good few hundred years, occasionally, things turned against him. Sometimes, it was dangerous to go outside. The city was modern, using all the latest inventions for its noble palaces. The streets were dirty places with open sewers running down the sides and evidence of horse traffic down the middle. As the ruler, Medici could build whatever he wanted, so he commanded his chief architect to make a secret passageway above everyone else’s homes and even over a bridge to connect his office to his home.
The Corridor was built in 1564 by Giorgio Vasari in only five months for the wedding between Francesco I de Medici and Giovanna of Austria. The passageway goes from Palazzo Vecchio (then called Palazzo della Signoria) through the Uffizi Gallery, over the Ponte Vecchio, over the front of a church, and finally into the Boboli Gardens, which are next to the Pitti Palace, where the Duke lived with his wife and family. It is a covered walk, almost a kilometre in length, an overhead passageway that starts from the West Corridor of the Gallery, heads towards the Arno and then, raised by massive arches, follows the river as far as the Ponte Vecchio, which it crosses by passing on top of the shops.
Cosimo De Medici Giorgio Vasari
Looking at the Ponte Vecchio towards the Uffizi, we can easily spot a series of square windows that run along the top floor—the Corridor. The Ponte Vecchio initially supported a series of shops that the City of Florence rented out to the Guild of Butchers. The Arno provided a convenient water source and waste disposal for this business. The Ponte Vecchio today houses only jewellers, thanks to a law passed by Ferdinand de’ Medici in 1593, as he didn’t like the smell of the previous tenants’ shops. The Duke felt goldsmiths were a more appropriate guild to reside under his secret passageway. Vasari thus created a monumental urban “footpath” that took the ruler’s absolute power into the city’s historic heart. A second corridor above Via della Ninna links the other side of the palace of the Uffizi with Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the Florentine government since the 13th century. 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.
Although conceived as a space intended for government magistracies, the Uffizi palace was already preparing to become a museum; indeed, a prototype for all museums to come, and the Pitti palace, acquired with the money brought as a dowry by Eleonora di Toledo, Cosimo’s young wife I, enlarged and equipped with a large garden, was preparing to become a Medici palace. Finally, it is no coincidence that Vasari’s “runner” is called the Florentine “passetto”. In fact, for its construction, the duke and the architect were inspired by the famous passage, the passetto, built during the papacy of Alexander V (1415-17) in Rome, which connects the Vatican palace with Castel Sant’Angelo, known for having saved the life of Pope Clement VII, born Giulio de’ Medici, who managed to escape from the army of Charles V during the sack of Rome in 1527 using this secret passage. But it is also inspired by the famous Bramante “runner” built in 1505 to connect the Vatican Apostolic Palaces with Innocent VIII’s Casino del Belvedere.
After Florence to Paris, where the aim pursued was the same: to spatially unite the political-institutional heart with the residence of the sovereigns through a covered passage that would also serve as a place for displaying the royal collections, protecting the monarchy from the danger of attacks and coups d’état. The first step that led to the birth of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre took place shortly before March 1565, in the same year as the construction of the Florentine Corridor: there is a trace of it in a letter that Catherine sent to her cousin Henry I, Duke of Montmorency, future marshal of France and responsible for monarchical constructions, in which the queen begs him to “give the order, following what the King my son has written so that the Tuileries building can begin to be included within the city walls since nothing could be more pleasant for me than to keep me informed of the opportunities that will open up from this construction site”.
Vasari’s Corridor has been part of the Uffizi Gallery for many years. During the Second World War, many paintings were moved into it to save them from bombings, and Mussolini arranged for the central windows to be enlarged on the occasion of a visit by Hitler. It is said that the ruler enjoyed the view and was aware that important works were being stored there, so he ordered for the bridge not to be blown up by his retreating army. It is the only bridge in Florence to have been spared in this war. The Corridor was home to a collection of self-portraits by artists dating from the Renaissance to the present day.
On May 26, 1993, in an attack by the Cosa Nostra mafia in Sicily, parts of the corridor were significantly damaged when a car parked underneath exploded, killing five people. For security reasons, the Corridor was closed for eight years (since 2016), during which time it was restored and renovated with a total investment of 10 million euros. It has reopened to the public and tourists since December 21, 2024. Watching the fascinating Florence from the corridor has always been interesting… Enjoy it…
