The exhibition Vasari, gli Uffizi e il Duca revolves around the protagonists of urban and architectonic enterprise: Duke Cosimo I dei Medici and Giorgio Vasari. The latter, originally from Arezzo, competed for the Duke’s favours with many other outstanding artists who animated the Florentine scene around 1540, artists for whom Cosimo had acted as patron while building his image as a man of power.

Vasari made his appearance on the artistic scene of Palazzo Vecchio in 1554, decorating the apartments and introducing the iconography of Cosimo as sovereign.  He was witness to the work of Michelangelo in Florence, an exemplary model indeed, until he embarked on the vast and complex project of the Uffizi.

The gallery housed the magistrature and the guilds  and was under the direct control of the Duke.  Here were the offices or ‘uffici’ (hence the name), but the Uffizi also functioned as the colonnaded piazza for the Palazzo della Signoria, and as an expository space, thanks to the long upper gallery which houses a procession of ancient statues collected by the Medici family.

One of Vasari’s merits was his knowledge of ancient sculpture and architecture, evidence of which can be found in the private rooms of his Arezzo home.
Vasari worked on some of the great Florentine monastic basilicas such as Santa Croce.  The exhibition illustrates these urban works, also by means of scale models.
The exhibition marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of this artist, celebrated also by the inauguration of his Florentine home at Borgo Santa Croce: the so called Sala Grande is completely frescoed by the artist and his disciples.