The New Uffizi project continues its movement forward with the completion of the set-up of two more new rooms which are now open to the public.

The new rooms are Room 68 dedicated to art in Rome during the first half of the 1500s and Room 71 that has works of art by Correggio.

Both are located on the first floor of the Western wing, after the Raffaello room (opened in June 2012).

The two rooms are part of a series of other rooms that should be completed and open to the public in about a month’s time.

As part of the Night at the Museum initiative taking place across Europe this Saturday, May 18, the Uffizi Gallery will be open from 7pm to 1am with free entrance! Last entrance is at 12:30am.

Other museums in Florence also open for Night at the Museum (same hours as above):
– Accademia Gallery
– Palatine Gallery (Pitti Palace)
– Museum of San Marco

Palazzo Vecchio will also be open from 6pm to midnight with free entrance.

Visitors to the Uffizi Gallery on Saturdays can now take advantage of visiting the current exhibition “Norma e Capriccio” with a guide, for free!

Until May 25th, every Saturday at 10.00, 11.30, 14.30 and 16.00 everyone with a ticket to the Uffizi Gallery can participate in the free educational tour of the exhibition organised by the museum staff and which lasts an hour.

Groups are a maximum number of 15, meeting point at the entrance to the exhibition space on the first floor (Sculpture Loggia).

On the 20th anniversary of the bomb disaster of Via dei Georgofili, the Superintendent of the Polo Museale Fiorentino , Cristina Acidini and the Director of the Uffizi, Antonio Natali, have decided to have a special opening of the Uffizi Gallery free of charge.

On Sunday May 26, 2013 the museum will remain open until 1:30am (last entrance at 1am May 27) in order to commemorate the precise time, 1:04am of the explosion of the car bomb that was parked by Torre dei Pulci near the Accademia dei Georgofili and in which 5 innocent lives were lost.

The personnel who will make the special opening possible will do so on a completely voluntary basis. Depending on the number of staff available, it might be possible to offer guided tours of the collections. The times and program of these visits will be posted later.

Between 6:05pm and 1am, visitors must use door #1 (normally used for visitors with advanced bookings) which will be the only entrance for the museum open at that time.

As the New Uffizi project continues, the new Michelangelo room has opened in Room 35 and for now Rooms 25-34 (where Michelangelo’s Tondo Doni used to be housed) are temporarily closed as renovations continue.

A selection of works by Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto are on display in Rooms 43 and 44 for the moment.

As part of an experiment in introducing visitors to part of the new Uffizi rooms dedicated to foreign painters called the “Blue Rooms”, for the month of March and April and only on Wednesdays the rooms can only be visited with a guide.

Starting at 9:30am and every half hour until 5:30pm, visitors should gather outside the rooms at the meeting point near the elevator and wait for the next tour to start. There will be 2 groups of 15 people at a time.

This project is part of the Uffizi’s wish to experiment in offering new ways to visit and discover the masterpieces contained within the museum. After this period, the museum will evaluate visitor feedback to see whether this service is something to offer on a permanent basis. Please let the guide know what you think!

The entrance to the Vasari Corridor is once again through the western corridor of the Uffizi. The corridor – with entrance at the Uffizi, passage over Ponte Vecchio and exit at the Boboli Gardens near the Buontalenti Grotto – can only be visited in groups at the moment organized through external travel agencies.

You can book your visit to the Vasari Corridor, including a tour of the Uffizi Gallery, with a personal guide here.

The Uffizi Gallery along with the other museums that are part of the Polo Museale Fiorentino (including the Accademia, Bargello and Pitti) will be open on Easter Sunday (March 31) and exceptionally also on Easter Monday (April 1).

These are open both Sunday and Monday:
8.15am – 7 pm
Uffizi
Accademia
Palatine and Modern Art Galleries at the Pitti
Medici Villa of Cerreto Guidi

8.15am-6.30pm
Boboli Gardens
Silver Museum
Porcelain Museum
Costume Gallery
Bardini Garden
Medici Villas at Castello (garden), Petraia and Poggio a Caiano

While on Sunday, only these are open:
Medici Chapels between 8.15-4.50pm
Palazzo Davanzati museum (8.15am-1.50pm)
Andrea del Sarto Last Supper (8.15am-1.50pm)

and on Monday, these are open:
Bargello (8.15am-5pm)
Orsanmichele museum and church (10am-5pm)
San Marco Museum (8.15am-1.50pm)
Sant’Apollonia Last Supper (8.15am-1.50pm)
Chiostro dello Scalzo (8.15am-1.50pm)
Ognissanti Last Supper (9am-12pm)

Have a great EASTER holiday!

The restoration of three of the most ancient works of art housed at the Uffizi has been completed and will soon make their way back to the Uffizi’s exhibition halls.

Completely financed by the Friends of the Uffizi Association, the restoration involved two wooden crosses and a diptych from the pre-Giotto period: a cross from the 12th century in Pisan style and another cross from the second half of the 12th century attributed to the Master of the Cross 434. The dyptich is from around the mid-1200s and shows a Crucifixion and a Madonna with Child and Saints attributed to Bonaventura Berlinghieri.

Until March 29, the three works can be seen for free within the medieval ex-church San Pier Schieraggio Tuesdays-Sundays from 9am-6pm before they return to Hall 2 where works by Giotto, Cimabue and Duccio da Buoninsegna are exposed. As the New Uffizi project continues, the three works should eventually make their way to a better display within Hall 1.

The new exhibit “Norma e Capriccio: Spanish Artists in Italy in the Early Mannerist Period” opened at the Uffizi Gallery on March 5th and will continue until May 26th.

The temporary exhibit is spread over 8 rooms on the first floor dedicated to the major Spanish artists that came to Italy at the start of the 15th century: Alonso Berruguete, Pedro Machuca, Pedro Fernández, Bartolomé Ordóñez and Diego de Silóe.

This is the first ever exhibit of its kind, showing the work of Spanish artists during their travels in Florence and Spain between 1500 and the 1520s. The show was born from a reflection attributed to Michelangelo who recognized the talent of the Spanish artists in creating works of art in the same style as Italian mannerism, which in turn was styled after works of ancient Greece.

During this period, admission tickets to the Uffizi include the exhibition (thus cost a bit more).