This was our last day in Florence and I had 8:15 reservations at the Uffizi Gallery. Grand Duke Cosimo I had the Uffizi (the "Offices") constructed in 1560-1584 to consolidate the city offices close to the Palazza Vecchio where the city government was run. That was the first floor. He used the second floor to house a gallery of artwork that the family had collected over the last 100 years. Ya know, if you gotta go to the office, you may as well have some artwork there.
It is, of course, one of the greatest art collections in the world. And as such, you can't begin to see it all in the 2-1/2 hours we had allocated to it. So, it was basically a Rick Steves run-through of the Uffizi highlights. Which are pretty High Lights!
The Uffizi is in the shape of a long "U" with the base on the south side along the Arno river. Most of the museum that people want to see is on the second floor. You enter at the ground level about where Room 15 is located and then walk through some rooms to the staircase (where this shows the Entrance) and up to the second floor. Then you walk along the U in basically chronological order.
Obviously, it is ridiculous to take pictures of paintings in a museum as famous as the Uffizi. I'm sure you could find every picture in the gallery somewhere on the internet. And I have a real, denigrating feeling about people who take pictures of themselves in front of paintings they want to keep, i.e., selfies covering the pictures they want. But still, we take the pictures anyway. So, I have tried to reduce the number of pictures that I'm showing to the ones I especially want to remember. And most of the time I can block out the heads and uplifted telephones of the people in front of me, but not always. And maybe that's part of the museum experience also. So, hopping into the mix....
Dante. Andrea Del Costagno. 1448. This is one of the earliest portraits of Dante who died in 1321. He was one of Florence's favorite sons. His trilogy, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, were written in Tuscan rather than in Latin, and their popularity established the Tuscan language as the standard for the Italian language. Similar to the Luther Bible becoming the standard for the German language. I liked that he is stepping out of the virtual frame.
Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, St. Mary Magdalen, St. Cosmas, St. Damian, St. Francis and St. Catherine of Alexandria. Botticelli, 1470. This is Botticelli's first known altarpiece.
Primavera (Spring), Botticelli, 1480. A celebration of love, peace and prosperity. There are over 138 different species of plants represented. It was hung in the palace of Lorenzo the Magnificent's cousin.
The Birth of Venus. Botticelli, 1480. What more needs to be said?
The Annunciation, Leonardo DiVinci, 1475.
The Adoration of the Magi, DaVinci, 1481. An unfinished picture by DaVinci. It has some characteristic elements of DaVinci, the triangular setting of Mary and the two supplicants, the upper arc with the people within it, and a possible self-portrait just to the right of the bald head in the right group.
An analysis done in 2007 indicates that DaVinci may not have painted it at all, but developed the underlying cartoon which was filled in later. One reason why it may not have been finished was that DaVinci left Florence and moved to Milan in 1481. Another is that the monks who commissioned the work didn't like his design and it was put into storage. In fact, the Benedictine monks commissioned Filippino Lippi to make another painting in 1481, which he completed. It is also in the Uffizi.
The Baptism of Christ, Verrocchio-DaVinci,1475. This was painted while DaVinci was an apprentice to Verrocchio who painted most of the picture. DaVinci was said to have painted the leftmost angel, the background and Christ's body. Verrocchio is said to have given up painting after seeing the quality of DaVinci's angel because at 16, his pupil had already surpassed the master.
Portraits of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi, Raphael, 1504. He was a merchant and she was from an important banking family. I just missed giving Agnolo legs. There were paintings on the back of these protraits that you could see on the other side of the plexiglass.
Holy Family with the Young St. John the Baptist "Doni Tondo", Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1507. This is painted on a wooden panel and is the only painting Michelangelo did that is not on a wall fresco. It is only about 12 inches in diameter, but it is striking.
This was on the 1st floor and speaks for itself.
I've got to have at least one Lute player in here. There are several that I haven't posted.
The Medici Family -
Cosimo the Elder - Pater Patriae Publice - The Father of his Country by Public Proclamation.
Lorenzo the Magnificent - Vasari, 1534. This was painted 42 years after Lorenzo died but is still considered an appropriate rendering of him.
Elenora of Toledo and her Son Giovanni, 1545. Elenora was the wife of Grand Duke Cosimo I. It is just an elegant portrait.
This is just a highlight of highlights. I have more pictures of pictures, but you get the gist of the Uffizi. It could be a whole Florence trip in itself. And it's one of a dozen (or more?) of major museums in this town.
It is an incredible place. But it's time to leave Florence and go to our next stop.
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Erik and I checked out of our hotel, took the T2 tram to the airport and picked up our rental car, an Audi SUV. From there, we drove down to the town of Radda in Chianti and to our hotel/winery,
Tenuta CorteDomina.
We drove right to the winery, and, surprise, it looked like the pictures of Tuscany.
The hotel Tenuta Corte Domina The terrace where they served their meals.
"I heard saw it through the Grapevine, How much longer will you be mine."
We drove into Radda in Chianti and got some sandwiches in the local market. Radda is an old walled town. It is on top of the highest hill in the area so it became the capital of the municipality. The region has a population of 1,600.
We walked around and it was basically a main street through the town and a drive around the back wall of the city.
Erik wanted rent a bicycle in an adjacent town. Unfortunately, they did not have a bike frame his size, so he had to go a size smaller, which was actually lucky, because it just fit into the back of the car.
That night we had a four-course dinner and wine tasting on the terrace.
Life's Good!
This was on the 1st floor and speaks for itself. 
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