Two little known gems to explore in Florence

Night embraces the Arno River and the famed Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy  (Photo: Public Domain)
 

FLORENCE, ITALY — With a native son the magnitude of Michelangelo, Florence, Italy's artistic legacy has never been questioned.

But in the city of The David, the Uffizi Gallery, the Ponte Vecchio and Santa Croce which are so familiar to us all, there are other magnificent treasures that are frequently overlooked by many travelers.

Interior view of the Vasari Corridor
(Photo: Freepenguin -- licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Two not-to-be-missed examples are the Vasari Corridor and the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine.

Since 2016, the Vasari Corridor has been closed to the public for safety reasons. Now the rare art collection dating  to the 16th century, is being renovated and will reopen with greater opportunities for more visitors to view its extraordinary assemblage of masterpieces.

One reason the Vasari Corridor was overlooked in the past is because it was only available through private tour companies. Now, according to Uffizi director Eike Schmidt, “We wanted everyone to be able to enjoy this extraordinary heritage in total safety, offering visitors the opportunity to walk through the heart of Florence’s art, history and memory.”

The Vasari Corridor was a hidden
passageway for royalty
(Courtesy: Florence Italy)

Over the next year and a half the gallery will undergo $11.3 million in renovations that include the addition of emergency exits, video surveillance, air conditioning and new lighting.

In addition. the corridor itself will have reinforced walls with antique terracotta flooring, and the Uffizi Gallery will add an entranceway where guests can purchase tickets.

Connecting the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio  (Old Palace) with the Palazzo Pitti. (Pitti Palace), the corridor  joins the Uffizi before going from its south side to cross the Lungarno dei Archibusieri. From there it follows the north bank of the Arno until it crosses the river at Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge).

The Ponte Vecchio had its windows enlarged to give Adolf Hitler
a better view of the Arno River  (Courtesy: Florence Italy)

Even the most cynical of museum haters will be intrigued by the Vasari Corridor because it's an attraction in its own right. Commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici to mark the wedding of his son Francesco I to Joanna of Austria, the corridor was constructed in just sixth months in 1565.

The primary purpose of the corridor however, was to allow royalty to walk in secret from the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace.

To prevent the smell of the meat market on the bridge above from reaching into the passage,  goldsmith shops, which still occupy the bridge today, replaced the butchers.

The Duomo and the Palazzo
Vecchio dominate the skyline
(Courtesy: Florence Italy)

The corridor features a series of panoramic windows facing the Arno that are situated in the middle of Ponte Vecchio. In 1939, by order of Benito Mussolini, the smaller windows were replaced for an official visit to Florence by Adolf Hitler to give him a panoramic view of the river.

It has been said that the Ponte Vecchio was Hitler's favorite bridge which was the reason it was not destroyed during World War II.

When the Vasari Corridor reopens in 2021, only 125 visitors will be allowed to visit at any one time, meaning this particular attraction will continue to go unnoticed by the masses compared to other more familiar sites in the city.

The Brancacci Chapel has been called the "Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance"  (Courtesy: Florence Italy)

Art lovers need not despair about the wait for the Vasari Corridor to reopen however, because the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmen is more than enough to compensate.

Sometimes referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance,"  the patron of the pictorial decoration was Felice Brancacci who served as the Florentine ambassador to Cairo until 1423.

It was here that a young Michelangelo formulated many of his ideas about perspective.

Masterpiece by Masolino da
Panicale  (Photo: Public Domain)

In the chapel itself, there are paintings which were started by Masolino da Panicale . When Panicale was commissioned as the painter to the king of Hungary, his 21 year old assistant Masaccio took over until he was called to Rome where he died at the tender age of 27.

With much of the work unfinished, Filippino Lippi later completed several portions of the chapel.

Masaccio's frescos made a radical break from medieval pictorial traditions by adhering to  new Renaissance perspectives of space. Thus, perspective and light create deep spaces where figures move in strongly individualized human dimensions.

Masaccio's "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden was a
major influence on Michelangelo  (Photo: Public Domain)

Masaccio's masterpiece Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the first fresco on the upper part of the chapel, contrasts dramatically with Masolino's delicate and decorative image of Adam and Eve before the fall, painted on the opposite wall. It is this difference in style and technique, that created such powerful concepts for Michelangelo.

"The David" by Michelangelo
(Photo: Public Domain)

Depicted above is Masaccio's fresco before and after restoration. The fig leaves were added three centuries after the original was painted, probably at the request of Cosimo III de Medici in the late 17th century, who saw nudity as “disgusting”.

The frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel are stunning
(Photo: I, Sailko -- licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

During restoration in the 1980s the fig leaves were removed along with centuries of grime to restore the fresco to its original condition.

The Uffizi Gallery with Palazzo Vecchio in the background
(Photo:  Chris Wee -- licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)

Until that time, art was basically a two-dimensional format. However, the innovations of Masaccio and the interpretations of Michelangelo changed the world of art to reflect a three-dimensional process, and the significance of the little known Brancacci Chapel is the ability to view this dramatic metamorphosis in a single venue.

If you don't see The David because of the crowds, check out the Brancacci Chapel. You may even have it all to yourself.