Vasari Corridor visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

What it is

An elevated, enclosed passage (about 750 metres per the Uffizi; up to around a kilometre by other counts) linking the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace / Boboli Gardens, over the Ponte Vecchio

Built

1565, by Giorgio Vasari, for Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (to mark Francesco I's marriage to Joanna of Austria)

Reopened

21 December 2024, after closing in 2016 — an eight-year restoration

Ticket

Combined Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket only (no Corridor-only ticket); nominative, personal and non-transferable, ID-checked at entry; reservation mandatory

Group size

Maximum 25 visitors per timed group (plus staff), one group at a time, one-directional Uffizi → Boboli

Days & times

Tuesday to Sunday; first group 10:15, last group 16:35; closed Mondays

What's on the walls now

Almost 300 ancient Greek/Latin inscriptions; ~50 Greco-Roman busts (Augustus, Antoninus Pius, Commodus, Sabina, Faustina); 16th-century Vasari frescoes; 1944 'Night of the Bridges' and 1993 Georgofili memorials. The historic self-portrait collection has been moved into the main gallery.

Accessibility

Fully accessible — integrated ramps, platforms and lifts; toilets at the far end

UNESCO

Within the Historic Centre of Florence (World Heritage inscribed 1982); a landmark within the listing, not separately inscribed

How to get in

Scarce, fast-selling timed slots — booked in your name on the official calendar the moment you reserve; nearest window secured if your exact slot has gone

What is the Vasari Corridor?

The Vasari Corridor, known in Italian as the Corridoio Vasariano, is a covered, elevated passageway that runs straight through the heart of Florence. The Uffizi Galleries describe it as about 750 metres long, while other counts put it at up to around a kilometre. It begins at the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of Florentine government, threads through the Uffizi Galleries, follows the north bank of the Arno, crosses the river along the top of the Ponte Vecchio, and ends at the Palazzo Pitti beside the Boboli Gardens on the south bank. In effect, it is a private road in the sky, linking the two great Medici palaces without ever touching the public street below.

The passage takes its name from Giorgio Vasari, the painter and architect who designed it, and it was built in 1565 for Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Its purpose was both practical and political: it let the ruling family move between their residence and the seat of power in privacy and safety, above the crowds. Where it crosses the Ponte Vecchio it rides above the bridge's famous shops, producing the distinctive silhouette that visitors photograph from the riverbanks to this day. For much of its history the Corridor was closed to all but the Medici and, later, privileged guests. After eight years shut for restoration, it reopened to the public on 21 December 2024, and is now walked as a single one-directional route entered from inside the Uffizi. As your concierge, we secure the scarce timed-entry places and book them in your name, so this remarkable piece of Renaissance engineering is straightforward to experience.

Who built the Vasari Corridor, and when?

The Vasari Corridor was commissioned by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and designed by Giorgio Vasari, the Florentine painter, architect and author of the celebrated Lives of the Artists. Vasari built it in 1565, completing the work at remarkable speed so that it would be ready to mark the marriage of Cosimo's son Francesco to Joanna of Austria. Routing a continuous, enclosed structure of this length between existing palaces, along the riverbank and over a working bridge in a matter of months stands as an extraordinary feat of Renaissance engineering. To carry the passage across the Ponte Vecchio, Vasari ran it directly above the bridge's shops rather than demolishing them.

At the time the bridge housed a meat market, and the Medici later had the butchers replaced with goldsmiths so that the smell of the meat trade would not reach the noble passage overhead. Goldsmiths and jewellers still occupy the Ponte Vecchio today, a direct legacy of that decision. Along the river the Corridor was pierced with windows to light it and to frame views of the Arno and the city. From the seventeenth century the passage gained a second identity as a gallery of artists' self-portraits, a collection begun by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici that eventually grew to hundreds of works. Those paintings have since been relocated into the main Uffizi galleries, so the route you walk today presents the structure itself rather than the picture collection. We handle the scarce named tickets for this reopened Medici landmark, booking your timed entry in your name the moment a slot becomes available.

Read the full guide: The Best Time to Visit the Vasari Corridor →

What can you see inside the Corridor now?

Since the 2024 reopening, the Vasari Corridor is presented as a walk through the restored structure itself rather than as a picture gallery. The route is lined with almost three hundred ancient Greek and Latin marble inscriptions, the core of a grand-ducal epigraphic collection assembled between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Alongside them stand around fifty Greco-Roman portrait busts, including Cicero, the emperors Augustus, Antoninus Pius and Commodus, and the empresses Sabina and Faustina, set along the stretch suspended high over the city. The passage also holds sixteenth-century frescoes created under Vasari's own direction, and two memorial spaces that mark the harder chapters of its history.

One recalls the 'Night of the Bridges' of 4 August 1944, when Florence's bridges were destroyed and the Ponte Vecchio alone was spared. The other remembers the Via dei Georgofili bombing of 27 May 1993, a Mafia attack outside the Uffizi that killed five people and damaged this very Corridor. The famous collection of artists' self-portraits that once made the passage renowned is no longer displayed here; it has been moved into dedicated rooms inside the main Uffizi galleries. In its place, the great draw is the experience of the walk: the round windows and the panoramic openings frame the Arno, the Ponte Vecchio and the rooftops of Florence, making the Corridor itself the principal exhibit. It is a rare, privately routed line drawn straight through the centre of the city. We secure your named place on this scarce timed walk and confirm the exact slot when we book.

How do Vasari Corridor tickets work?

There is no Corridor-only ticket. The Vasari Corridor is sold exclusively as a combined Uffizi and Vasari Corridor ticket through the official Uffizi Galleries, and that same ticket admits you to the Uffizi itself. Reservation is mandatory rather than optional, and the ticket is nominative: it is issued in a named visitor's name, is personal and non-transferable, and is checked against a physical identity document at the entrance. Each name must exactly match the passport or government ID the visitor will carry, so bring that document with you on the day. Visits run in tiny timed groups of a maximum of 25 people, one group at a time.

The walk is one-directional, from the Uffizi over the Ponte Vecchio towards the Boboli Gardens side, so once you set off along the passage you tour the Uffizi first and the Corridor as the final leg. Daily capacity is deliberately small to protect the historic structure, which is the main reason places are so scarce. Because that capacity is limited and the official calendar releases dates on a short horizon, slots sell out quickly and returned places are taken within hours. This is precisely why booking through a concierge is the most dependable route in. You give us each visitor's name at checkout, we watch the official calendar around the clock, and we book the timed entry in your name the moment a slot is available for your date. If your exact slot has gone, we secure the nearest available window and confirm it with you.

What are the Vasari Corridor's opening hours?

The Vasari Corridor's timed groups run Tuesday to Sunday. The first group of the day enters the passage at 10:15 and the last at 16:35, and the Corridor is closed on Mondays, in line with the Uffizi Galleries. Because access is by the combined Uffizi and Vasari Corridor ticket, the same ticket also admits you to the Uffizi, which keeps its own broader hours, typically opening from around 08:15, Tuesday to Sunday. That means you can arrive well before your Corridor slot, explore the gallery's main rooms, and then join your group for the walk.

The Corridor is entered from inside the Uffizi, so the sensible plan is to reach the gallery in good time, see the collection you want to see, and make your way to the Corridor entrance before your group's start time. Since the walk is one-directional and finishes on the Pitti Palace side of the river, the Uffizi is always the first half of the day and the Corridor the second. The precise timed-group schedule is set by the Uffizi Galleries and adjusts seasonally and on public holidays, so the exact times available shift through the year. When we secure your booking we confirm the precise slot, so you know exactly when to be at the entrance. As your concierge, we watch the official calendar for the dates you want and book it in your name, which removes the guesswork from a schedule that changes and a calendar that sells out fast. Arrive unhurried, with the passport that matches your named ticket, and the day unfolds without friction.

When is the best time to visit?

The Vasari Corridor works differently from most Florence attractions when it comes to timing. Every group is capped at a maximum of 25 people and entry is strictly timed, so there is no quieter hour in the usual crowd-avoidance sense: the experience inside stays intimate whenever you go, because the group size is fixed. The real question is not how to dodge the crowds but how to secure a place at all. Availability is the deciding factor. Slots are scarcest during the high-summer months and the main public holidays, when demand for Florence peaks, and they are a little easier to come by in the spring and autumn shoulder seasons.

April, May, September and October also bring the most comfortable weather for exploring the historic centre on foot, which makes them the sweet spot for a Corridor visit. Even so, in every season the official calendar moves quickly, and released dates are frequently taken within hours. The single most effective thing you can do is reserve your dates as early as possible. The earlier you book, the better your chance of landing a place, and of securing a time of day that fits the rest of your itinerary: the Uffizi beforehand, the Boboli Gardens and the Oltrarno afterwards. We watch the official calendar around the clock for the dates you give us and book the moment a slot opens, in your name. That means your decision is simply which dates you want in Florence; we take care of catching the scarce slot when it appears.

Read the full guide: The Best Time to Visit the Vasari Corridor →

Is the Vasari Corridor accessible?

Yes. The reopened Vasari Corridor was rebuilt with accessibility as a core part of the restoration, and it is now fully accessible along its length. An integrated system of ramps, platforms and lifts carries visitors through the passage, replacing the steps and level changes that made the old route difficult, and there are toilets at the far end near the Boboli Gardens side. Low-energy LED lighting runs throughout, giving a clear, evenly lit walk from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace end. Because the Corridor is entered from inside the Uffizi Galleries, the gallery's own accessible entrances and lifts bring you to the start of the walk, and the one-directional route then leads all the way through without needing to retrace your steps.

Large bags and backpacks are left in the Uffizi cloakroom before entry, which also keeps the passage clear and easy to move through. Visitors with specific access requirements are best served by letting the Uffizi Galleries know in advance, so any particular support can be arranged for the day. Booking through us makes that straightforward: tell us what you need when you book, and we relay those requirements to the operator when we secure your slot, along with the names for your nominative tickets. The result is that a passage which was closed and inaccessible for years is now open to far more visitors than ever before. We handle the scarce timed booking and pass on your access needs, so the practical details are settled well before you arrive at the Uffizi entrance.

How do you get there?

The Vasari Corridor is reached through the Uffizi Galleries, which sit beside Piazza della Signoria in the very heart of Florence's pedestrian historic centre. From Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the city's main railway station, it is roughly a fifteen-minute walk through the old town, past the Duomo and down towards the Arno. Most visitors arrive on foot, because the historic centre is a Limited Traffic Zone, or ZTL: cameras automatically fine unauthorised vehicles, and there is no parking at the gallery itself, so driving to the door is not an option.

If you are coming from further afield, Florence's Amerigo Vespucci Airport lies a short distance north-west of the centre and connects to the city by tram and taxi, while high-speed trains link Florence to Rome, Milan, Bologna and Venice through Santa Maria Novella. Once you are in the centre, everything you need is within an easy walk. Entry to the Corridor is from inside the Uffizi. You go into the gallery with your combined Uffizi and Vasari Corridor ticket, and the passage begins from room D19 on the first floor, running one direction over the Ponte Vecchio towards the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Arrive in good time so you can pass through security, leave large bags in the cloakroom, and reach the Corridor entrance before your group's start time. Bring the passport or government ID that matches the name on your ticket, as entry is name-checked at the gate. We book your named timed slot in advance and confirm exactly where and when to be, so the arrival is simple.

Read the full guide: How to Get to the Vasari Corridor →

Is the Vasari Corridor a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

The Vasari Corridor lies within a UNESCO World Heritage Site rather than being separately listed in its own right. In 1982, UNESCO inscribed the Historic Centre of Florence on the World Heritage List, recognising the city's extraordinary concentration of Renaissance art and architecture created under the patronage of the Medici. The Corridor, and the Ponte Vecchio it crosses, are celebrated features within that protected area, so when you walk the passage over the bridge, you are moving through the heart of a listed World Heritage landscape. That distinction matters for how the Corridor is understood.

It is not an isolated monument but one thread in a dense weave of Florentine landmarks: the Uffizi at one end, the Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria beside it, the Ponte Vecchio beneath the passage, and the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens at the far end. All of these sit inside the same World Heritage inscription, and the Corridor physically links several of them in a single elevated line. Walking it therefore offers a rare vantage point on the World Heritage city, a private route above the streets, framing the Arno and the rooftops through its windows in a way no ground-level path can match. The reopening in December 2024 restored public access to this perspective for the first time in years. As your concierge, we secure the scarce timed-entry places to the reopened passage and book them in your name, so experiencing this landmark within one of Europe's most treasured World Heritage sites comes down to choosing your dates and letting us secure and book your place.

How does booking the Corridor work?

The Vasari Corridor is one of the hardest experiences to book in Florence, and the reasons are structural. Daily capacity is tiny, with groups of a maximum of 25 people, one at a time; the official calendar releases dates on a short horizon; and demand has been intense since the December 2024 reopening. The practical result is that the best slots are taken within hours of release, so timing and readiness matter.

Booking through us turns that into a single decision. You choose the date and entry window you want and pay securely, and we book the timed Uffizi + Vasari Corridor entry in your name on the official calendar. Because the ticket is nominative and checked against a physical ID at the gate, we collect each visitor's name at checkout, so the ticket is valid for the person who walks through the door — there is no scramble for details after the fact. If the exact slot you chose has already gone, we secure the nearest available window on your date and confirm it with you before finalising. And because all sales are final once a nominative ticket is issued, we only ever charge you for a slot we can actually book: if we cannot fulfil a confirmed, paid booking, you are refunded in full.

Frequently asked questions