---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Uffizi

When it comes to art Florences flourishes in many aspects of it. Some of the many things that Florence can account with their art can be anywhere from the meseums with the pictures it holds of famous painters along with monuments, churches, last suppers portraits and anywhere in between. When it comes to the art of Florence an important name to mention would have to be the Uffizi.

The construction of the Uffizi palace began in 1560, when the Duke Cosimo I dei Medici decided to build a special seat for the offices of the thirteen magistracies, that is for the administrative center of the Florentine State. Cosimo I commissioned the project of the building to Giorgio Vasari, painter and architect at the Medici court, who realized one of the most famous architectural masterwork of Florentine Mannerism. Stretching from the Signoria Palace to the river Arno the costruction posed difficult technical problems since the foundations were quite over the river. Vasari had to include into the building the ancient church of San Pier Scheraggio and the ancient Zecca which is near the Orcagna Loggias. When in 1574 Vasari and Cosimo I died, the Uffizi was not yet completed. Francesco I, son of Cosimo I, succeeded his father. Bernardo Buontalenti succeeded Vasari in supervision of construction in 1581 when the building was terminated. Some years before at the first floor the offices of the thirteen magistracies had been installed so everyone of these had a beautiful entrance door in the portico at the ground floor. Francesco I had a profound interest for science, alchemy and art so in 1581 he decided to give a private arrangement to the second floor of the Uffizi. In the west wing he set laboratories where it specialized artisans who worked on jewels and precious stones while perfumes were distilled and new medecines were experimented in the east wing he placed ancient sculptures of medicean collection: shortly afterwards in this side of the building Buontalenti started to erect the Tribune . Francesco's successors increased more and more the medicean collection with new acquisitions of paintings, sculptures, precious and rare object in generals. They were set not only at the Uffizi but also at Pitti Palace or in other medicean palaces. The continuing growth of the granducal collections in 17th century enriched the Uffizi. many new rooms of the second floor were arranged to display masterworks as in a museum and in the meanwhile the Gallery could be visited on request by Florentine or foreign persons. For this the Uffizi can be considered the first kind of modern museum of the history. In 1737, with the death of Gian Gastone the Medici dynasty ended and the family of Lorraine ascended the throne of Tuscany. The last descendant of Medici family, the Palatine Electrix Anna Maria Luisa, sister of Gian Gastone, made an important agreement that secured for ever the city of Florence and all of the medicean art treasures. It also eliminated any risks of dispersion of this artistic patrimony unique in the world. The Lorraine family, from Pietro Leopoldo to Leopoldo II, enriched the whole collection, increasing it with important masterpieces: many paintings and several hundred of drawings were bought, many Florentine pictures were transferred to the Uffizi from Tuscan monastries, after suppression of religious orders during the 19th century. In 1860 at the formation of the Kingdom of Italy the Medici-Lorraine collections became public property to all effects and purposes. At the end of the 19th century a new arrangement of the Gallery caused the destruction of the wonderful Medici Theatre , to make way to the first rooms of the east corridor, before the Tribune

In 1989 the State Archive that occupied the first floor of the Uffizi, has been transferred in the new seat of Piazza Beccari. The first floor will be indeed arranged to double the Gallery's area, as planned in the Nuovi Uffizi project. The first six rooms of this floor have beeen recently restored and all the other rooms soon will be added to them to make way to the exhibition of many masterworks now conserved in the warehouses and realize new arrangements for all needs of a museum of such importance.

Here are a few pictures of the Ufizzi :

Looking down the corridor between the two wings of theUffizi, a famous museum containing many originals by renaissance artists.

The Galleria Uffizi, which stands between the river and the Piazza Signoria.

A statue under the Uffizi.  This is Leonardo.

Famous Artists

Michelangelo ( 1475 - 1564 ) - Michelangiolo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, a small village near Florence, in 1475. When he was thirteen, the Ghirlandaio art shop engaged him. The Shop of Ghirlandaio was very famous in Florence and also Leonardo Da Vinci worked there for a lot of years. Sculpture was the first love of Michelangiolo. In 1490 he carved in the marble the Centauromachia ( Firenze, Casa Buonarroti museum  ), a splendid bas-relief in which we can see all the action spirit of the artist. In 1490 he sculptured the Madonna Della Scala (Firenze, Casa Buonarroti museum ),in 1494 the Candle Angel ( Bologna, S. Domenico ),in 1496 Bacco ( Firenze, Bargello Museum ). One of the famous work of art of the artist is the “ Pietà “, now conserved in Rome ( San Pietro Cathedral ). The artist was convinced that all the figures were imprisoned in the marble blocks, so the sculptor had to let them free. This is the reason of the vitality of Michelangiolo sculptures that seem to be alive also if made with cold marble. In 1501 the artist began to work to the David, (Firenze, Academy Museum ). The sculpture is 4,34 m. high and was placed in Signoria Place in 1504. The one you can see is a copy. In that period Buonarroti painted the “ Sacra Famiglia “, a very beautiful picture you can see in “ Uffizi “ museum . After that the artist left Florence going to Rome where the Pope ordered him a lot of sculptures and paintings. In 1516 Michelangiolo came back to Florence, the Pope Leone X ordered him to design the front of the S. Lorenzo Cathedral. The project is now conserved in Florence in the Buonarroti Museum. The front was never realized. The Pope decided to realize a new sacristy in S. Lorenzo, Michelangiolo was the designer and the sculptor of the new room. Many sculpures were realized by the artist on the Medici's graves: The Aurora, the Madonna con Bambino, La Notte, all of them realized nearly in 1530. The Florentine republic was to the end and Michelangiolo decided to leave the city. In Rome he painted the Cappella Sistina frescos. He worked alone for many years to the project recently restored and visible in Rome, Vatican Palace. Michelangiolo Buonarroti died in Florence in 1564.

The Last Judgment, which Michelangelo finished in 1541 was the largest fresco of the Renaissance. It depicts Judgment Day

Leonardo Da Vinci ( 1452 - 1519 ) - It was the period of the renaissance when Leonardo da Vinci was born on 15. April 1452. Leonardo was born probably in this farmhouse in Anchiano, which is 3 km away from Vinci. The family of Leonardo lived in this area since the 13th century.
The father of Leonardo da Vinci, Ser Piero, was a 25 years old public notary when Leonardo was born. In the same year when Leonardo was born Ser Piero married his first wife. He didn't marry the mother of Leonardo, because probably she was a daughter of a farmer. The mother of Leonardo was called Catarina. Her first name is all what we know today. He is the mastermind behind the beautiful painting called the Mona Lisa.

Picutre of the Mona Lisa.