Several rooms on the 'piano
nobile' of the Uffizi will house the central core of the
self-portraits now in the Vasari Corridor by the end of 2017,
Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt told ANSA Wednesday.
At least 50 of the most important works (Rembrandt,
Raphael, Pistoletto) will be moved, and will be followed on a
rota basis by the other 730 in the Corridor, he said.
Detached frescoes and Roman sculptures are set to replace
them in the Corridor.
The transfer plan is one of the operations linked to the
opening up to the public of the Corridor linking the Uffizi with
Palazzo Pitti via the Ponte Vecchio, which Schmidt announced
recently.
It will take around a year to move the self-portraits.
The Vasari Corridor (Italian: Corridoio Vasariano) is an
elevated enclosed passageway which connects Palazzo Vecchio with
Palazzo Pitti.
Beginning on the south side of Palazzo Vecchio, it then
joins the Uffizi Gallery and leaves on its south side, crossing
the Lungarno dei Archibusieri and then following the north bank
of the River Arno until it crosses Ponte Vecchio.
At the time of construction the Torre dei Mannelli had to
be built around using brackets because the owners of the tower
refused to alter it.
The corridor covers up part of the façade of the church of
Santa Felicita.
The corridor then snakes its way over rows of houses in the
Oltrarno district, becoming narrower, to finally join the
Palazzo Pitti.
Most of it is currently closed to visitors.
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