Episode 17: The Famous Uffizi in Florence

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Ctybr67k

This episode is devoted to the Uffizi, Florence’s world-famous art gallery, a must-see for 19th century visitors and equally unmissable today. First, there is a short history of the gallery and then an overview of its treasures. The main focus is then on a number of highlights by Italian painters, such as the three glorious Madonnas (by Ducio, Cimabue and Giotto respectively) displayed together in the first main room plus, of course, Botticelli’s Primavera and The Birth of Venus. Mention is also made of a well-known double portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca and in each case the descriptions are supplemented by useful background information.

MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

More information about Florence coming soon.

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Links & Reading

3 useful websites for tourists
Feel Florence
Visit Florence 
Destination Florence

4 guidebooks on Florence
Pocket Rough Guide to Florence 
Time Out Florence City Guide
Blue Guide Florence by Alta Macadam
Strolling through Florence by Mario Erasmo

2 more guidebooks on Florence and Tuscany
Lonely Planet Guide to Florence and Tuscany 
Eyewitness Travel Guide to Florence and Tuscany by Christopher Catling

3 history books and a guide to art and architecture
Florence, the Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert
The Medici by Paul Strathern
The Medici by Mary Hollingsworth
Art and Architecture in Florence by Rolf C Wirtz

3 anthologies
Florence: A Traveller’s Reader by Edward Cheney
Florence Stories Everyman’s Library Pocket Classics
A Literary Companion to Florence by Frances King

2 memoirs of Florence
Florence: A Delicate Case by David Leavitt
A Florence Diary by Diana Athill

4 novels set in Florence
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone (Biographical novel about Michelangelo)
A Room with a View by E M Forster
Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel