The Uffizi Galleries first brought together three extraordinary museum complexes in 2014. Together, these three structures contain the core of the collections of art, precious artisan-made objects, books, and plants belonging to the Medici, Habsburg-Lorraine and Savoy families. It is a stunning collection of treasures dating from Antiquity to the 20th century, and over the years, it has contributed to the fame of the Uffizi, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Since the Renaissance, these three museum sites have been connected to one another by an ingenious construction, the Vasari Corridor, and together they form one of the most important, most visited culture hubs in the world.

Historically, the integration of these three structures, joining the two banks of the Arno River since the 16th century, is part of peculiar visions of life, culture, power and customs of the ruling families who left their mark on and influenced the history of this area. Commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici, “Di qua d’Arno” palace was built in the mid-16th century to concentrate the full force of public power, creating an administrative headquarters called the “Uffizi” [offices] for Florence’s Tribunals, Guilds, Corporations and Courts.

On the second floor of the Palace, the Gallery of Modern Art contains one of the most important Italian collections of paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries, from Neoclassicism to the 1930s.

Felice Casorati / The Stranger