The corridor, named after Giorgio Vasari, the Renaissance architect and biographer who designed it, is approximately 750 meters long. It stretches from the Uffizi Museum to the imposing Pitti Palace, passing the Ponte Vecchio above the tiny historic jewelry stores that cross the Arno.
The corridor was built by the powerful Medici family of Florence to allow them to move secretly and safely from one part of the historic Italian city to another.
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“It is a reopening which allows us to connect the two fundamental poles of the (art) collections from one bank of the Arno to the other, the Uffizi Palace with the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, and to make it accessible to all visitors,” explained Simone Verde, director of the Uffizi Gallery, famous for its collections of ancient sculptures and paintings.
The secret passage was closed in 2016 for restoration work aimed at bringing it up to safety standards.
Starting December 21, visitors will be able to enter the Uffizi Museum's Gallery of Statues and Paintings and stroll through the bowels of Ponte Vecchio before exiting through the Tuscan city's lush Boboli Gardens.
Thanks to the corridor, they will be able to go around the Mannelli Tower and admire the Church of Santa Felicita from above, enjoying a unique view of the city.
The renovation, which cost approximately 10 million euros (nearly $15 million CAD), ensures full accessibility for people with disabilities thanks to ramps, walkways and elevators, and offers a new low-cost LED lighting system. energy consumption in addition to being fully monitored by video.
The aim is to make the secret passenger a valid alternative route for tourists.
“The corridor allows us to transform overtourism from a problem into an opportunity, a way for visitors to see the connection between these two hubs of the Medici and then Lorena collections,” Mr. Verde said.
Every year, millions of tourists flock to the Tuscan city to admire its stunning Renaissance art and architecture, an ever-increasing flow of people that is becoming unsustainable, as is the case in other popular Italian cities.
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