Il Percorso de Principe - Paradise Gained

Several months ago, when my husband Bill and I started planning our most recent trip to Florence, I went hard to work researching. I wanted to make sure that I got to see the city in a way I couldn’t the when I was there for four days in 2002. When I came across a reference to the Percorso de Principe, or Vasari Corridor, I flipped. I’m a lover of art, and had been fortunate to see galleries, museums, churches and public spaces all over Europe, but this was an opportunity to see something utterly off the beaten path - A part of the Uffizi open only by special booking (and at high price), with art treasures I had never before seen in galleries, or, to my knowledge, even in photos.

I spent hours on the phone trying to reach someone at the Uffizi. Don't believe that stuff about "Press number 3 for English". The only English I heard was, "no, no, no" followed by “chiuso, chiuso.” I checked out the postings on slowtrav.com, my travel bible, and elsewhere, from lots of people were trying to get into the Corridor, who had the same problem. Everybody was asking why the Uffizi had no information, they asked about rumors that the Corridor wouldn't reopen, they had booked tours through tour agencies but couldn't get confirmations...NOBODY I was aware of, not a soul, was actually getting in.

In early April, not very hopefully, I booked a May 11 tour of the Percorso through SelectItaly (U.S. $88), with the understanding that no tour would take place if there weren’t enough people. That was a condition I could live with – my real worry was that the Uffizi just wouldn’t open the doors. I repeatedly asked for confirmation and got none, although I was promised I'd have news two weeks in advance of the booking date.

In fact I left for Italy April 27 - TWO WEEKS before May 11, with nothing but promises. There were still no postings on SlowTrav, and no word from elsewhere, of anyone being allowed in or even having confirmation of a tour date. Look, it wasn't killing me - I had five weeks in Florence to look forward to - but I really wanted this.

After all my worry, my and despite problems printing the voucher and having to do just a bit of running around Florence to find the local agent, I showed up at the appointed place and time, thrilled that I might soon ACTUALLY be underway. My voucher was vague about where to meet ("across from the main entrance" but there are two of those). There was nobody with any sign referring to the Corridor or to SelectItaly, but ultimately I found other people waiting for the same tour, and....

The tour began in the Uffizi proper, with a survey of the highlights of the collection. I've been there and done that, and saw galleries about four years ago, when I toured the museum without benefit of guide. What I thought was familiar, however, became new and more interesting than ever as our small group moved along from room to room –so the works were not new to me, but the analysis offered by our guide brought a new life to the way I looked at each piece. Especially valuable to me was the historical perspective offered by our guide as she compared similar works of art, helping me understand the meaning of small differences in otherwise similar compositions. She also addressed the way paints, panels and canvases were prepared to create particular effects in the finished works – an area of art I frankly had little knowledge of, which added substantially to my appreciation.

At last our guide announced that we were about to enter the Vasari Corridor. A door I would never have noticed was opened for us by an escort, and we passed out of the Uffizi, and into heaven.

The Vasari Corridor runs from the Palazzo Vecchio to Pitti Palace across the river. It winds its way across the Ponte Vecchio, above the famed jewelry shops, with windows looking out on stunning views – often strategically aimed into the windows of nearby palazzi. By itself, there is nothing about the interior of the Corridor that struck me as beautiful. It was interesting, nevertheless, to consider it in a historical context as an architectural and political coup for the Medicis, who wanted a path between the palaces, and managed to have parts of it constructed inside the houses of several aristocratic families whose misfortune it was to live where their chief neighbor wished to pass. In addition, it contains an entrance to the Church of Santa Felicita, where in a luxurious balcony almost at ceiling height, the wealthiest of the wealthy could enjoy the mystery of the communion without mingling with those below.

The Percorso's contents, however, are dramatically different from what is seen in the Uffizi’s galleries. The works that we find inside are not really the greatest of the great, but they’re terrific, fascinating, and unique. A great surprise of the corridor came right at the beginning, as we walked past an area damaged by the 1993 mafia bombing of the Uffizi. Within the Uffizi’s public galleries, there is no remnant of the event, but within this more private space, we saw original paintings utterly destroyed by the blast, a painful sight and a reminder of the nature and extent of the damage done.

There were two very interesting collections in the Corridor that really deserve attention. One was of portraits of artists, and the other of miniature paintings. The artists gallery included everyone of importance, including many of the masters whose works appear on the walls of the Uffizi through current artists. Woman artists are well represented (not always the case). The miniatures were simply charming. The works span a long period of time, and are of a quality that makes me wish I had been aware of their existence long ago.

At some point in our walk, our attendant opened up one of the porthole windows and beckoned us to look. There, beneath the corridor stretched the Ponte Vecchio, teeming with tourists and vendors, noisy and colorful. It was a view from a perspective impossible to duplicate from any other vantage point – it took my breath away.

I really feel lucky that I got to see the Vasari Corridor, with all its historic twists and turns and its odd, quirky collections. Hopefully, my good fortune signifies a sea-change in the booking process, and others will find the process of booking smooth and quick. It was fascinating from more than one point of view, and I recommend it to all lovers of art, architecture and history.