Perched regally on the banks of river Arno in Florence, the Uffizi Gallery’s claim to global fame is its rich repertoire of Italian Renaissance art. The grandiose Florentine building, commissioned in 1560 by Cosimo I de’ Medici, known as Cosimo the Great and first Grand Duke of Tuscany, houses a staggering collection of paintings, sculptures and decorative art that embodies the high Renaissance artistic style that represents an impassioned period of cultural, artistic, political and economic rebirth of classical philosophy and art following a rather stoic Gothic period.

River Arno quietly flows through the medieval city of Florence

Interestingly though, the majestic U-shaped edifice was primarily built for a rather stoic reason: to house the administrative and judiciary offices of Florence, which was the base of the Medicis, the most prominent banking family in Europe in the 16^th century.

Giorgio Vasari, the celebrated architect, was originally commissioned to build the Uffizi but it was completed by Bernardo Buontalenti, another Florentine master, after Vasari’s death in 1574.

Seven years later in 1581, Uffizi would assume an altogether different identity. Francesco I de’ Medici, Cosimo’s son and the new Grand Duke of Tuscany set up a private gallery with statues and other art objects on the top floor of the east wing of the Uffizi, and the sprawling premises metamorphosed into a private family museum of the Medici family.

Primavera is a large panel painting in tempera paint, and one of the best-known works of Botticelli

A walk down one of the iconic corridors of the Uffizi gallery is a portal into a technicolour past where black, white and grey marble busts and sculptures dating from the Roman period line up on the wall. The corridor ceilings are decorated with frescoes, the first of which was painted in the East corridor in 1581. While you marvel at the astonishing pieces of 2000-year old art that includes a marble portrait of Emperor Nero, the large windows of these corridors offer views of Florence, and River Arno with Ponte Vecchio and Santa Maria del Fiore.

A 2000-year-old Greecian urn on display and (right) the corridors of Uffizi hold one of Europe's finest collections of sculptures and statuettes from antiquity

The halls flanking the side of the long walkways are replete with high Renaissance art that you can immerse yourself into; but there is one room that remains off limits to visitors — The Tribune. The octagonal hall is not only a display of works of art, such as sculptures and paintings, but also extraordinary natural items, including precious stones. It was a cabinet of curios, and a treasure trove of Christian iconography. The structure is octagonal because according to Christian tradition eight is the number which draws near Heaven. Besides, in ancient times octagonal themes were common in important edifices, baptisteries and basilicas.

The dome, symbol of the Vault of Heaven, has a lantern with a wind vane whose movements are symbolically displayed on a painted wind rose. Francesco I conceived the iconography of the Tribune’s decorations and furniture as the whole cosmos replete with its primary elements – Earth, Water, Air and Fire. As you try to absorb the celestial mechanics and the iconographic details of the red Tribune illuminated by diffused lighting, do not ignore the sculptures housed inside, most notably the ‘Wrestlers’ and the ‘Venus de Medici’, which is considered the one of the most erotic artworks of antiquity.

Venus of Urbino by Titian

Uffizi Gallery is much smaller than Louvre or the Prado, but you would still need to plan ahead to focus your visit on the unmissable highlights of Florence’s premier art museum. The star of the gallery is Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, the first secular painting to include nudity. But apart from this, the 15^th-century Italian maestro is celebrated here with a number of his best-known works such as Primavera and Adoration of the Magi.

Uffizi houses three works of Leonardo da Vinci: The Annunciation, one of his earlier works, and his own version of Adoration of the Magi, which is a complex interpretation of the Biblical theme at the core of Christianity.

Doni Tondo is the only Michaelangelo painting you will find in Uffizi, a masterful panel painting by the great Florentine artist and his contemporary Raphael’s exquisite Madonna of the Gold Finch adorns another wall of the vast hall.

The painting by Caravaggiodepicts Medusa’s head, severed from her body by Perseus, at the moment of her death

After having your fill of the Italian and Flemish masters, find yourself in front of an astonishing piece of art: Venus of Urbino by Titian. An early 16^th-century oil painting, where Titian has moved Venus to a domestic setting, directly engaged her with the viewer in an intimate and sensual manner with a bold hint of hedonism — a remarkable departure from the artistic language of the era.

After the art-filled morning at the Uffizi, step out on the sun-kissed Piazza della Signoria, Florence’s historic centre, which has been the home to some of the finest Renaissance-era sculptures for centuries. The beautifully designed plaza is an extension of a visit to the Uffizi Gallery, and after a leisurely stroll through the fountains and sculptures, quite the perfect place to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine at one of the cafes that surround the 15^th-century square.