Guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

A museum of painting, the pleasure of an unmissable visit not to be missed!

A museum of painting, the pleasure of an unmissable visit not to be missed! With the selection of your private guide, you can enjoy the most famous masterpieces in the collection and leave the Uffizi really enchanted, more than full. The Uffizi Museum now has more than 1,600 works (Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio among many artists), not to mention the countless works in the repository. The 1,200 square meters of the palace there is preserved and displayed as one of the oldest artistic heritages, as well as the world’s finest collection of Italian paintings. The guided tour provides a little more insight into the history of the paintings, their iconography, the requests of the patrons as well as secrets and anecdotes about the Florentine artists. I take care of the reservation to skip-the-line tickets to avoid too much waiting, especially in high season.

The route of a private guided tour

The Uffizi Museum’s collection is organized in chronological order to allow the painting’s evolution over the centuries. The guided tour focuses on 15th- and 16th-century Florentine painting. Botticelli’s rooms with “The Birth of Venus” and “The Spring,” Leonardo da Vinci’s new room with The Annunciation, The Baptism of Christ, The Adoration of the Magi (paintings that never leave the Uffizi), Michelangelo’s monumental “Tondo Doni ” (the artist’s only painting in Italy), “The Virgin of the Goldfinch” and portraits of the young Raphael are obviously part of our journey. Other famous paintings include Titian’s “Venus of Urbino,” which inspired the French painter Manet, and paintings by Caravaggio such as “Medusa” and “The Bacchus.”

“Primavera” of Sandro Botticelli

It is undoubtedly one of Botticelli’s biggest (203 x 314) and most important paintings, perhaps the most famous opera of Florentine school. Probably executed around 1481 for the Medici family, it is an allegoric representation of spring, drawing inspiration from the verses of Poliziano and Neoplatonism, despite the precise meaning of the painting’s iconography being still uncertain. The work got painted with thick tempera (color diluted in oil) on a poplar board. The transparency of the veils, the elegance of the fabrics, the harmonious movement of the figures, and the dance of the Graces, are all elements that make the work unique and sublime.

“Tondo Doni” of Michelangelo

It is the only panel painting made by Michelangelo and the only one found in Italy. The Doni Tondo, financed by wealthy Florentine merchant Agnolo Doni, was probably intended as a gift to his wife to celebrate the birth of their daughter. The painting depicts the Holy Family. The composition is unique: the Virgin is seated, has just finished reading, and receives the Child from Joseph, who stands behind her. The modernity of the painting and its colors marks a turning point in mid-Renaissance painting and heralds the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. The carved and gilded wooden frame is a true masterpiece.

The Uffizi Palace

In 1560 Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici commissioned architect Giorgio Vasari to design a magnificent building destined to house the offices of Florence’s administration. The architect designed two parallel wings, joined at the height of the Arno quays by a loggia with three large arches. The building was later completed by the Vasarian Corridor (1565), which connects the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace via a passageway across the Arno above Ponte Vecchio. From 1580, Grand Duke Francesco I began installing statues and paintings that had belonged to the Medici family for generations on the second floor of the building. He commissioned architect Buontalenti to create an octagonal room, the Tribuna, to display works of art from the Medici collection, before turning the entire gallery into a museum. Open to the public since 1765,  Uffizi Gallery is the first museum in Italy and the second in Europe.