The Complete Vasari Corridor Visitor Guide
Everything to know before you walk the Medici's secret passage over the Ponte Vecchio — its 1565 origins, what's inside since the 2024 reopening, how the tiny timed groups work, and how to get a named slot before it sells out.
The Vasari Corridor (Corridoio Vasariano) is an elevated, enclosed passage — described by the Uffizi as about 750 metres long, and often cited as up to around a kilometre — built in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, that runs from the Uffizi Galleries, along the Arno, over the top of the Ponte Vecchio and through to the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. Closed since 2016, it reopened to the public on 21 December 2024 after an eight-year restoration — and immediately became one of the hardest tickets to get in Florence, because it is visited only in tiny timed groups of up to 25 people, one group at a time, Tuesday to Sunday, as part of a combined Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket. This guide covers the Corridor's history, what is on the walls now (it is no longer the self-portrait gallery), how the timed groups and the nominative ticket work, opening hours, accessibility, and the most reliable way to secure a slot before it sells out.
What is the Vasari Corridor?
The Vasari Corridor is a covered, raised passageway that links the seat of Florentine government — the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi — with the Medici residence at the Pitti Palace, on the opposite bank of the Arno. It is named after Giorgio Vasari, the painter, architect and art historian who designed it, and who completed the build at remarkable speed in 1565. The route runs through the Uffizi, along the river, across the top of the Ponte Vecchio, past the church of Santa Felicita and into the Boboli/Pitti complex — a distance the Uffizi give as about 750 metres, sometimes cited as up to around a kilometre.
Its original purpose was practical and political. Duke Cosimo I de' Medici wanted to move between his palaces without mixing with the public street, both for convenience and for security in an era when rulers felt exposed in public. The Corridor let the Medici pass privately above the heads of the citizens — a physical expression of the dynasty's grip on the city.
Who built it, and why 1565?
The Corridor was commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici and built in 1565 to coincide with the marriage of his son Francesco I de' Medici to Joanna of Austria. Vasari is said to have completed the project in a matter of months — an extraordinary feat for an elevated structure of this length threading between existing buildings and over a working bridge. To carry the Corridor over the Ponte Vecchio without demolishing the shops on the bridge, it was routed above them; tradition holds that the Medici later ordered the bridge's butchers replaced with goldsmiths, partly so the passage above would not be troubled by the smell of the meat trade. The goldsmiths remain on the Ponte Vecchio to this day.
From the middle of the 17th century, Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici turned the Corridor into a gallery of artists' self-portraits — a collection that grew over the centuries to hundreds of works by figures from across European art. For a long time that self-portrait collection was the headline reason to visit. It is no longer displayed in the Corridor: during the recent restoration the self-portraits were moved into dedicated rooms inside the main Uffizi galleries.
What is inside the Corridor now?
The reopened Corridor is presented as a walk through the structure itself rather than a picture gallery. Along the route the Uffizi has installed almost three hundred ancient Greek and Latin marble inscriptions — the core of a grand-ducal epigraphic collection assembled between the 17th and 18th centuries — and around fifty Greco-Roman portrait busts, including prominent likenesses of Cicero, the emperors Augustus, Antoninus Pius and Commodus, and the empresses Sabina and Faustina, placed along the stretch suspended over the city.
There are also 16th-century frescoes created under Vasari's own direction, and two memorial spaces: one recalling the 'Night of the Bridges' of 4 August 1944, when retreating forces destroyed Florence's bridges (sparing only the Ponte Vecchio), and one dedicated to the Via dei Georgofili bombing of 27 May 1993, a Mafia attack outside the Uffizi that killed five people and damaged this very Corridor, burning around a quarter of the paintings then hanging here. The bare, restored structure and the round windows looking out over the Arno and the rooftops of Florence are themselves a large part of the experience.
How do the timed groups and tickets work?
The Vasari Corridor is sold only as a combined Uffizi + Vasari Corridor ticket — there is no Corridor-only option, and the same ticket admits you to the Uffizi Galleries. Reservation is mandatory. Visits run in tiny timed groups of a maximum of 25 people (plus staff), one group at a time, and the walk is one-directional, from the Uffizi over the Ponte Vecchio towards the Boboli Gardens side.
The ticket is nominative: it is issued in a named visitor's name, is personal and non-transferable, and is checked against a physical ID at the entrance. Bring the passport or government ID that matches the name on the ticket. Because the daily capacity is so small and the calendar releases dates on a short horizon, slots disappear quickly — which is why a named waitlist, set up before the date opens, is the most reliable route in.
Opening hours and best time to visit
Timed groups run Tuesday to Sunday. The first group of the day enters the Corridor at 10:15 and the last at 16:35; the Corridor is closed on Mondays, as is the Uffizi. The combined ticket also admits you to the Uffizi, which keeps its own broader hours, so plan to arrive early enough to enjoy the gallery before your Corridor slot.
Because every group is capped and the experience is timed, there is no 'quiet hour' advantage in the usual sense — your group size is the same whenever you go. The practical timing question is availability: the earlier you set up a waitlist for your dates, the better your chance of landing a slot at all, and of getting a time of day that fits the rest of your Florence plans. Spring and autumn shoulder seasons see slightly more give in the calendar than the high-summer and holiday peaks.
Accessibility
Unlike the old Corridor, the reopened route was rebuilt to be fully accessible. It has an integrated system of ramps, platforms and lifts, low-energy LED lighting throughout, and toilets at the far end. Visitors with specific access requirements should contact the Uffizi Galleries in advance; if you book through us, tell us your needs when you join the waitlist and we will pass them on when we secure your slot.
Getting there
The Uffizi Galleries sit beside Piazza della Signoria in the heart of Florence's pedestrian historic centre. From Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station it is about a 15-minute walk through the old town. The centre is a Limited Traffic Zone (ZTL), so most visitors arrive on foot; cameras automatically fine unauthorised vehicles, and there is no parking at the gallery. Enter the Uffizi with your combined ticket — the Vasari Corridor begins inside the gallery, from room D19 on the first floor.
Why book through a waitlist?
The Vasari Corridor's combination of tiny daily capacity, a short release horizon and high post-reopening demand means the official calendar is frequently sold out, and freshly released or returned slots are taken within hours. A named priority waitlist solves this: you supply each visitor's name when you join — at no charge — we watch the official calendar 24/7, and the instant a slot opens for your date we email you a secure payment link and book the timed entry in your name. You pay only when there is a confirmed slot to book; if none opens before your travel date, you are simply never charged. Because the ticket is nominative and ID-checked, holding your names up front is what makes the booking fulfillable the moment the window opens.