Piazzale degli Uffizi

The Piazzale degli Uffizi is the long, arcaded courtyard running between the two wings of the Uffizi Gallery, connecting the Piazza della Signoria to the Arno riverfront. Giorgio Vasari designed the complex from 1560 onward for Cosimo I de' Medici as government offices — the word «uffizi» simply means offices — and it only became a museum decades later. The sculpted corridor extending along the arcade facing the Arno turns the passage itself into an open-air gallery, lined with busts and statues of Florentine luminaries. Today it functions as a transitional space between Florence's political heart and the river, offering a rare pause in the city's foot traffic, especially in the late-afternoon light that cuts low between the Renaissance columns.