I have Rick Steves' guide to Florence and Tuscany in my apartment here in Florence. It's excellent stuff on the whole. Today I was lucky enough to walk down the Vasari Corridor, the Medici's private walkway from the Palazzo Vecchio on the north side of the Arno, over the Ponte Vecchio, winding up at their home in the Palazzo Pitti by the Boboli Gardens.

Rick says the Vasari Corridor is hard to get into and probably not worth it. Boy is he wrong.

<!--more-->Some facts first. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasari_Corridor" target="_blank">Vasari Corridor</a> is an extraordinary private passageway originally built for the Medici. It runs from Florence's first town hall in the Palazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi Gallery, along the Arno river, over the top of the Ponte Vecchio shops, through the church of Santa Felicita and then winds up in the Pitti Palace,  the final home of the Medici family who were Florence's royal family in all but name. It meant they could walk to the centre of the city without mixing with the hoi-polloi and just to make it nicer they filled it with works of art.

It's still there today, though the bit from the Palazzo Vecchio is closed because it's used for storage. You can walk down the Vasari Corridor but you need to book and it costs -- 85 euros in my case. And you won't be able to do it for a while either. From next October, on the present schedule, it will close for three years for renovation work (though this being Italy dates are, as always, vague).

Our tour began with a one-hour trip round the key parts of the Uffizi. Then we went into the corridor itself down a set of stairs, with two Uffizi guard ladies following on behind out charming American guide to make sure we only took pictures out of the few windows, not of the corridor itself.

After that we descended into the first floor of the Uffizi and what was once private apartments, all razed for the Medici's designs. It's quite something to move out of the Uffizi's hustle and bustle into this cold, quiet private area. There's no heating, no air conditioning for the paintings, which is one reason why the place is about to close for work.

The corridor is quite narrow -- here's the bridge that takes it from the Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi.

<a href="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bridge-002.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6751" title="bridge 002" src="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/bridge-002.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></a>Once you're inside you get some interesting views too. Here's the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi part. You see that tiled narrow bit leading to the bridge? That's the corridor we're about to walk down.

<a href="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte1-004.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6752" title="ponte1 004" src="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte1-004.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></a>The entire corridor is lined with paintings. Some -- most, let's be honest -- passable. But once you get into the bit over the bridge you get a collection of self portraits by some well-known artists and some of them are pretty astonishing. Among them, I was amazed to see, was Carlo Levi, author of the wonderful <em>Christ Stopped at Eboli</em> which he wrote in Florence as a Jew in hiding from the Nazis. This isn't just ancient history, you see.

There are views from the occasional windows (which you can photograph). Here's one, part way across the Ponte Vecchio.

<a href="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte2-005.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6755" title="ponte2 005" src="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte2-005.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></a>

Halfway across the bridge you meet a set of windows which seem quite modern. They are. Mussolini had them installed for a meeting with Hitler. There is a local story that Hitler so enjoyed the view that he ordered the Ponte Vecchio be saved from destruction when Italy was falling to the Allies and all the other Florentine bridges were being destroyed. I find this a little hard to believe. Would a man who could murder millions really be bothered about a bridge?

But the window's still there and this is a view from it...

<a href="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte3-007.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-6756" title="ponte3 007" src="http://vir.liquidweb.com/~davidhe4/davidhewson.com//wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ponte3-007.jpg?w=640" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></a>

After that the corridor wanders through the church and then on to the Pitti Palace, where we emerge in the Boboli Gardens, next to the famous grotto. The corridor does wind into the palace itself but visitors are kept out of that bit.

This seems a very short account of something that lasted three hours. It really was an extraordinary experience, one greatly enhanced by the knowledge and enthusiasm of our guide. And there has to be a guide of course, since you can't do this without one. I normally shun tourist arrangements but frankly this one was so well organised, and with such genuine knowledge, I may be more accommodating in future.

If you want to do the Vasari Corridor yourself you have until October to get in there. My visit was organised through <a href="http://www.florencetown.com/eng/monthly-suggested-choice/30/vasari-corridor-available-all-through-winter-20102011.html" target="_blank">Florence Town.</a> It was excellent and I certainly recommend them.

How did my clever GPS camera fare on this trip? I'll tell you tomorrow when I've looked at the files.