First Part of Vasari Corridor Offers a Walk Through Florence's History With Weekend in Italy

Thanks to the diligent efforts of Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, together with Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Gallery, the famous "Path of the Princes," Florence's most exclusive passage, the Vasari Corridor, is finally reopened to the public. Weekend in Italy (WeekendinItaly.com), the leading source of online travel services focused solely on Italy, provides access to this unique opportunity in form of a Combo Ticket "From Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi" (https://www.weekendinitaly.com/en/firenze/museo_dett/235-combo-packages/9591-combo-from-palazzo-vecchio-to-the-uffizi.html). The single ticket gives access to the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery, passing through the first part of the Vasari Corridor on Via della Ninna.

Commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici in order to provide a safe route from the residence at Palazzo Pitti to the seat of government at Palazzo Vecchio, the secret passageway that crosses the river Arno on the Ponte Vecchio was realized by Cosimo's court architect Giorgio Vasari in 1565. Brilliantly, instead of a dank, secretive tunnel, the Medici's chose an elegant aerial passageway that literally elevated their status.

"The opportunity to reach the Uffizi Gallery directly from from Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi Gallery is great news," says Weekend in Italy Founder and CEO, Alessandro Naldi. "It is not only a unique historic and artistic itinerary, but a monument that embodies Machiavelli's political view, who suggested the Medici Prince should 'see without being seen.' So far, the Vasari Corridor - an architectural marvel filled with some of the Medici collections' finest art work - has been open to the public only exceptionally and for guided tours. Now, and thanks to the Combo Ticket available at WeekendinItaly.com, visitors can literally take a walk through time, through history, through one of the symbols of Florence."

For security reasons, the path is until now open from Palazzo Vecchio to Uffizi Gallery, accessible exclusively upon reservation and only for small groups of up to 25 visitors at one time. We wait for the reopening of Vasari Corridor at the beginning of 2018.

Background: Weekend in Italy has served travelers since 1995 and offers more than 600 tourist services for adventurous types, including tours, excursions and online ticket reservations for major Italian museums. Weekend in Italy was the first Italian company to offer these services online, with new ones constantly being added. The company collaborates with Expedia, Viator, GTA, Veltra and many others, and serves hundreds of thousands of customers each year.