Discovering Casa Vasari in Florence
Where the great artist and intellectual once worked and lived
Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect and art historian credited with much of the eternal beauty of Florence admired throughout the world.
Born in Arezzo July 30, 1511, he died June 27, 1574, in Florence, where he lived and worked for many years as Cosimo de' Medici's favorite artist.
He was the brilliant author of the famous Vasari Corridor, which connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti via the Uffizi and over the Ponte Vecchio-closed to the public since 2016, but soon to reopen completely-as well as of the Uffizi itself and much of the current appearance of many of the rooms in the Palazzo Vecchio, including the decorations of the Salone dei Cinquecento and the Studiolo of Francesco I. He then directed the renovation of the basilicas of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella and established the Accademia dell'Arte e del Disegno di Firenze, among the oldest artistic institutions in history (1563), whose members include Michelangelo Buonarroti, Benvenuto Cellini, Andrea Palladio, Galileo Galilei and Lorenzo Bartolini.
Casa Vasari is located in the oldest heart of the city, at borgo Santa Croce 8CASA VASARI IN FLORENCE
Vasari moved to Florence permanently in 1554. For his home, beginning in 1557, he chose a 14th-century palazzo in the oldest heart of the city, at Borgo Santa Croce 8, halfway between the ancient basilica of Santa Croce and Palazzo Vecchio. On the ground floor of the house, given to him by Cosimo I de' Medici as a token of gratitude and owned by the Vasari family until the death of the last descendant in 1687, was the master's workshop, while the upper floors were those used for actual living. Here is the jewel of the house: the Sala Grande, decorated with a magnificent cycle of frescoes surmounted by a wooden coffered ceiling, the work of Giorgio Vasari himself and his collaborators, including Jacopo Zucchi. A sort of visual testament to his concept of Art, dated circa 1572, it features stories of artists from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, allegories of the Arts and a series of 13 portraits of Italian painters, sculptors and architects.
The Hall can be visited by appointment thanks to an agreement between the palace's ownership and the Horne Foundation. A calendar of openings can be found here.
A detail of the beautiful fresco cycle in the Sala GrandeANNIVERSARY INITIATIVES
To mark the 450th anniversary of the death of the great artist and intellectual, the Horne Foundation is celebrating him with a series of events from June to December 2024.
The center of the initiatives (thematic tours, cultural activities, special events and workshops for families, adults and children) is the artist's Florentine home, known as Casa Vasari, at Borgo Santa Croce 8. Click here to find out all the events.
