A night guided tour to the Uffizi to see the Renaissance masterpieces
A night guided tour to the Uffizi Gallery, to appreciate the masterpieces by Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio as you have never seen them before: without crowds and without confusion. It is the beautiful proposal offered by the Uffizi Gallery which in the months of September and October (these should be the months of the proposal also for 2023) will give the possibility to appreciate its masterpieces with a completely different atmosphere.
After the end of the state of emergency of the pandemic, in which if everything seems to have returned to normal, perhaps the flow of visitors who have returned to fill the cities of art and museums seems excessive, making it impossible to recreate the optimal situation expected in contemplating a painting or sculpture.
The best way to enter one of the most visited museums in Italy and by far the most visited in Florence is simply going there when the crowd and kerfuffle aren’t there. It’s not about getting up very early and showing up there at 8:00 in the morning, rather 8:00 in the evening.
Enlivened by a truly captivating atmosphere, with the sunset light passing through the windows of the corridor, the Uffizi Gallery will offer itself at that hour in all its beauty, with Roman statues and Renaissance grotesques gladly welcoming visitors as soon as they cross the threshold.
Silence and beauty
In the two-hour night guided tour to the Uffizi Gallery, we admire the great Renaissance masterpieces with the calm and silence that this kind of contemplation requires; starting from Giotto’s great novelties, we advance through the rooms passing through the Annunciation by Simone Martini, the Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano. We continue towards the important works of fifteenth-century painting, such as the Dukes of Urbino double portrait by Piero della Francesca, the fairy-tale atmospheres of Paolo Uccello and the refined brushstrokes of Filippo Lippi, Botticelli’s master. After seeing Lippi’s masterpieces, the so-called Lippina is absolutely striking – it will be the turn of the famous paintings by Botticelli, such as the mysterious Primavera and the iconic Venus.
Deciphering the secrets of these two paintings allow you to grasp the essence of the cultural phenomenon known precisely as the Renaissance, a cultural time of the highest level that came to exist thanks to the Medici patronage.
When we have reached the spaces housing the works dating back to the last decades of the fifteenth century, it will be highly suggestive for you to enter the room which alone houses the paintings by Leonardo da Vinci.
The last room on this level houses two other key Renaissance artists, namely, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Candlelight Banquet, 1617, Gherardo delle Notti, Uffizi
Candlelight paintings…
Finally, we remember one more reason to book a night guided tour to the Uffizi: thanks to the suggestive atmosphere due to the decrease of daylight, the contemplation of some works would be even more suggestive, as it happens with the Caravaggio’s paintings — whose setting is eminently nocturnal — or those of other painters who were followers of the great Lombard artist.
Among the “caravaggesque” there are Artemisia Gentileschi or Gerard Van Honthorst, the latter a Dutch painter who, just for setting his scenes almost ever at night was known in Florence with the Italianized name of Gherardo delle Notti – that is to say Gherardo de las Noches — who to illuminate the characters used almost exclusively the artificial light of torches or candles, which is also why the room where his paintings are housed is called “by candlelight”.
The night guided tours to the Uffizi: an unique experience
The night guided tour to the Uffizi Gallery enables so to discover the works of the museum that, just thanks to the lack of the daily crowds, can be easily admired from different angles. There is nothing better than to see the collection by a guided tour that will be organised every Tuesday night, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. so that the tour inside the biggest museum of Italian painting greatest can truly become a unique experience. While waiting to have the evening openings back, stay updated on the museum’s communications and, if you like, I can accompany you to contemplate the beauty of art in the evening⟣
