The Palazzo degli Uffizi, designed and built by Vasari in the second half of the 16th century at the request of Cosimo I, originally housed the city’s administrators, judiciary and guilds (uffizi means offices).
Cosimo’s successor, Francesco I, commissioned the architect Buontalenti to modify the upper floor of the palazzo to house the Medici’s growing art collection. Thus, indirectly, the first steps were taken to turn it into an art gallery.
