This region is one of the most astonishing ones in Italy for me, especially in spring. This wide and beautiful landscape with its small hills everywhere and the sparkling sun! When entering into the Tuscan capital and going to our hotel, we passed through the narrow streets along the Arno river.

On our first day in Florence, we went to the Uffizi Gallery and we immediately realized that it had been a good idea to call there before to book a tourist guide within this huge museum as we saw the large queues. 

The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most important art museums in Europe and is housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a building made for the famous Italian family Medici. Significant masterpieces of the most outstanding artists, well- known all over the world, are accommodated in the Uffizi Gallery. Our guided tour lasted more than three hours and nonetheless, we were not able to see the whole gallery.

The gallery with its 40 halls – each dedicated to an artist or an artistic era - has a lot to see, from Dürer over Botticelli to Leonardo da Vinci. The most impressive work for me was Botticelli`s „The Birth of Venus“. the Uffizi offers an overview of the various schools of painting in Florence, through masterpieces. It includes collections of the Italian school (especially the Venetian school, in an area rich in the Flemish school), Dutch and German artists such as: Dorer, Rembrandt, Rubens and a famous collection of portraits. To complete these works, there are the sculptures and a collection of ancient tapestries. If you're looking for Michelangelo's David or Botticelli's Venus, then this is the place.

It was the Medici family who commissioned Giorgio Vasari the building of Palazzo degli Uffizi, which was intended for administrative and judicial offices (its name comes from them). Works began in 1560 and the gallery was completed 20 years later. The building also houses the State Archives with rare documents of the city's history. The powerful Medici family commissioned Giorgio Vasari to design the building as an administrative office, in the late 16th century. As the works of art accumulated, it became Italy's best-endowed gallery. In 1737, Anna Maria Ludovica de Medici, last of her line, bequeathed it to the city as a public museum.

On the ground floor, you can see the remains of the Romanesque church of San Pietro Scheraggio with frescoes by Andrea del Castagno. On the first floor, you can appreciate Drawings and Prints.

Again, no visit to Florence is complete without a visit to the Uffizi or "Galleria degli Uffizi". Even for those who may not be as keen in art as myself, this art museum, one of the oldest in Europe, contains just the right amount of cultural delights to keep the mildly curious from feeling annoyed that they've spent too much time and money without having seen enough internationally reknowned works; whilst art connaisseurs will be able to linger much longer feeling they've savoured a good amount of the collection.