Vasari Corridor: Friday Evening Opening

Nine timed slots run each Friday, the first at 7:00pm and the last at 9:50pm, and every group is capped at 25 people, guides and carers included. You meet at the entrance in Piazzale degli Uffizi, next to the Loggia dei Lanzi, and staff walk you through together.

The Medici built the corridor to get between Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti undisturbed. On these evenings you walk roughly a kilometre of it without an Uffizi ticket and come out through the Boboli Gardens into Piazza Pitti. Press coverage describes elevated views of the centre and the Arno. Being undisturbed was the whole point of the place, and a group of 25 above the Friday-night crowd on Ponte Vecchio gets the same deal.

The visit takes about 35 minutes. Tickets are €24 in advance, €20 on the day and €2 reduced; booking is compulsory, with a maximum of five per purchase. Photos are allowed without professional equipment, video is not, and large bags and umbrellas stay outside.