Gallerie Degli Uffizi

Designed as offices for the rulers of Florence, the Uffizi became a home for some of the greatest works of Renaissance art. Commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1560 and designed by Giorgio Vasari, the building was transformed into a public museum in 1769, opening the Medici family’s collections to a wider audience. Today, the galleries trace the development of Western painting through works by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Caravaggio. Botticelli’s *The Birth of Venus* is among its best-known masterpieces. The collection also includes ancient sculpture and historic portraits, displayed along corridors whose architecture reflects the building’s origins as a centre of Medici power.