While some have always known of its existence both for its architectural significance and its magnificent collection of portrait art, the Vasari Corridor will come as a surprise even to many who have visited Florence and have walked the famous Ponte Vecchio replete with its gold jewelry shops.
The Vasari Corridor indeed leads above ground from the Pitti Palace along the Via dei Guicciardini. A slight curve around a neighbor’s building leads over the Ponte Vecchio. Langdon recalls historical events and a plaque at the entrance of the Ponte Vecchio from Dante’s Paradise Canto XVI. In the photo to the right the golden lines beginning at the lower left pass through the tiny building at the southern end of the bridge. They cross the Ponte Vecchio where it will turn right then left into the Uffizi. Crossing to the right hand hall down its end the Corridor veers right then left exiting into the Palazzo Vecchio. (The poetical sound of “vecchio” simply means “old” in Italian.)