The Uffizi Gallery is adjacent to the Palazzo Vecchio. In fact it was constructed in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici to serve as the offices (uffizi is Italian for offices) for Florentine magistrates.
This is a view of of the Palazzo Vecchio from the Uffizi.
As a museum it was even more overwhelming than the Vatican Museum. It has 45 rooms full of world famous masterpieces by artists like Botticelli, Giotto, el Greco, da Vinci, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Rembrandt, Reubens, and Velazquez, just to name a few.
Photos were not allowed in the museum, but here are three of the masterpieces we saw there (copied from Wikipedia):
Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" was a departure from the Roman Catholic religious themes that dominated art at the time.
Raphael's "Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi" appear to be discussing important affairs of state.
Piero della Francesca's "Battista Sforza" and "Federico da Montefeltro" could have been a typical Italian couple.
At the top of the museum we found a cafe' where we stopped to rest and have a sandwich. The patio off this cafe provided this view of Santa Maria dell'Fiore's dome and Giotto's bell tower.
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