Uffizi Gallery

Art museum in Florence, housing the world's finest collection of Italian Renaissance painting. The core collection derives from the Medici family of Tuscany. In 1559 Cosimo I hired Giorgio Vasari to design the Uffizi Palace (1560–80), originally for use as government offices (uffizi). In 1565 Vasari built the corridor over the Ponte Vecchio connecting the Uffizi with the Pitti Palace. In 1737 Maria Ludovica, last of the Medici, bequeathed the family collections to Tuscany; the collection was given museum status and opened to the public in 1769. The building was restored and enlarged after bomb damage in World War II and flooding in 1966. In addition to Florentine paintings, the Uffizi houses outstanding works of other Italian and non-Italian schools, antique sculpture, a gallery of self-portraits, and 100,000 prints and drawings.

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