2-637-267 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Palazzo Vecchio from the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, 1927. One of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world, the Uffizi Gallery is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi (Uffizi Palace) designed by Giorgio Vasari for Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence, and built between 1560 and 1581. The collections were first opened to the public in 1765. The Palazzo Vecchio was built by Arnolfo di Cambio between 1299 and 1314. The Palazzo della Signoria, as it was formerly known, was the seat of Florence's government until Cosimo I de' Medici relocated it to the Uffizi in the 1560s. After Italy achieved independence Florence was the nation's capital from 1865-1871 and the Chamber of Deputies sat in the Palazzo Vecchio. Today it houses the city council of Florence and the mayor's offices. From Italien in Bildern, by Eugen Poppel [August Scherl, Berlin, 1927]