About This Location
Piazzale degli Uffizi feels like a stone corridor open to the sky, running between the two long wings of the Uffizi. It sits right next to Piazza della Signoria, and one side of the arcade lines up toward the Arno. Along the ground-floor pillars, look for the marble figures set into deep wall niches. This is a 19th-century “hall of fame” - 28 statues of famous Tuscan figures, installed mainly between the 1840s and the 1850s, turning Vasari’s architectural niches into an outdoor gallery. At this stop, four names stand out. The statue of Giotto was made by Giovanni Dupré and inaugurated in 1845. The statue of Leonardo da Vinci is by Luigi Pampaloni. The statue of Michelangelo Buonarroti is by Emilio Santarelli. And the statue of Dante Alighieri is by Emilio Demi. Standing here, the “nearby view” is really the setting itself: repeating arches, strong perspective lines, and the steady flow of people moving between Piazza della Signoria and the river end of the Uffizi complex. It is one of the easiest places in Florence to feel how art, history, and daily city movement all share the same space.