The former government offices of Florence, built by order of Cosimo I de' Medici, house one of the largest collections of European art in the world. Along with the cathedral of Santa Maria della Flor (the Duomo), it is the most visited attraction in Florence year after year. In 2022, the Uffizi Gallery grossed a record €35 million and was visited by 4 million people.

With more than 250 years of history, the gallery began with the impressive donation of Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the last great member of the Florentine dynasty. Today, it brings together masterpieces from the 14th to the 19th centuries that are fundamental to understanding the transformations in Western art.

Florence was the most important centre of the Renaissance, a cultural revolution that took place in Italian cities. The artistic examples exhibited in the Uffizi rooms are traces of these changes and are full of wonderful information.

As most of the paintings are from a fairly short period of time, it may seem that several rooms are "the same" or that the same paintings are repeated. But if you look closely, you will be able to identify the changes in the art as you walk through the corridors. This is very valuable because the "rules" that were established in those paintings are the ones that dominated European art for 500 years!

So now you know: visiting the Uffizi not only opens the door to understanding many other museums and galleries that you will visit on your travels; it also allows you to better appreciate architecture, cinema, photography and even advertising. We recommend spending about three hours to see it at your leisure, or spend less time but go directly to a few works or rooms that you know you prefer.