Florence Friday

Last Sunday there was a collision of favourites: Kevin McCloud in Florence. Let me add to that Kevin McCloud in a Fiat 500 in Florence! Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour is on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday evenings and last Sunday we were treated to the wonders of the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, Florence and Rome.

What blew my mind was seeing the Vasari Corridor, something I had never heard of before. Built by Giorgio Vasari in 1564 at the order of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici the corridor is a secretive, covered walkway through the air. It stretches for over a kilometre from the West Gallery of the Uffizi, towards the river Arno, across the river over the Ponte Vecchio (on top of the shops!), through the interior of the Church of Santa Felicita, along the tops of houses and gardens, into the Boboli Gardens and then finally the Pitti Palace.

View from the Corridor out onto the Ponte Vecchio
check out more at Museums in Florence

An extaordinary construction, the corridor provided the Duke with a private walkway from his home, the Pitti Palace, to his offices at the Uffizi. An incredible thing! We've been looking over our photos and tracing the corridor on satellite maps and enjoying the excitement of another little bit of Florence being revealed. R's painting shows the corridor clearly and yet when he completed it neither of us knew about this fabulous passageway!

The "floating" Corridor emerging from the Uffizi and running along the Arno to cross at the Ponte Vecchio

Within the corridor are housed a grand collection of Art and, by arrangement, the public are allowed to visit, now can we afford to go back to Florence next year and have a look?

Let's hope so!