The Uffizi Gallery is part of the largest museum complex in Florence – Le Gallerie degli Uffizi – which also comprises the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Garden museums. The Uffizi occupy the whole of the first and second floors of the large building built between 1560 and 1580 at the behest of Cosimo I de’ Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, to designs by Giorgio Vasari, one of the greatest exponents of 16th century art. This U-shaped building – one of the most splendid examples of Renaissance architecture – was conceived to hold the ‘uffizi’, i.e. Florence’s administrative and judicial offices. The first gallery layout was the work of Francesco I, Grand Duke from 1574-1587. Now the Gallerie degli Uffizi is one of the most famous and visited museums in the world for its extraordinary collections of ancient sculptures and paintings ranging from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The collection of 14th century and Renaissance paintings comprise some of the greatest art masterpieces of all time: names such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio as well as European masterpieces, above all German, Dutch and Flemish. The Medici family’s collection of statues and busts from antiquity decorating the gallery’s corridors is no less important.

The Uffizi Galleries promote museum accessibility at every level to guarantee a full and pleasant experience to all visitors. In particular for deaf visitors, in the context of the “InSEGNAMI l’Arte” project, an interactive itinerary guiding deaf people in an exploration and in-depth look at some selected work in the Uffizi Galleries. This virtual itinerary starts from the Galleria degli Uffizi room plan in which works of art are marked in colour and organized in the various rooms in chronological order. All the contents present on the site are written in Italian and signed in Italian Sign Language with interactive videos. Furthermore, a section of the site contains a GLOSSARY in which a series of key words and important news linked to the work analysed can be consulted.