Italy has opened the historic and secret passageway for the elite of Florence to the general public for the first time.
According to CNN, the Corridoio Vasariano, or Vasari Corridor, which is actually a private walking trail with a 750-meter (2,460-foot) space, is now open to the public.
The walking through the centre of Florence was designed by artist and architect Giorgio Vasari in 1565 for the ruling Medici dynasty and was completed in just five months.
The “secret” passageway connects Florence’s three most famous sites: the Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi Galleries, and the Palazzo Pitti. It was a private route for the Medici family to easily move between the city’s political centre, office, and home.
Uffizi director Simone Verde told CNN that corridor was a “mythical place for the Western world” that had previously been “open to few.”
He added that the heritage spoke to the importance of culture to the Medici’s political project, adding, “This was new to the Renaissance, the cultural element of government. The culture created here was the motor for all the courts of modern Europe.”
Verde expressed that a visit to the revamped corridor “isn’t just a fantastic destination, but a trip to a vision of the world.”
