What should I see in the Uffizi Gallery, and where is it?
The famous paintings run along one second-floor route, Giotto to Botticelli to Leonardo to Michelangelo and Raphael, with Titian and Caravaggio one floor down.
The Uffizi is easier to find your way around than its size suggests, because the visit is essentially one-way: you climb to the second floor, walk the rooms in roughly chronological order from the 13th century to the High Renaissance, and come down to the first floor for the 16th and 17th centuries. Nearly everything people come for is on that upper floor, between Giotto’s Maestà in room A4 and Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo in A38, and the Botticelli rooms in between reopened on 16 June 2026 with the Birth of Venus and Primavera hung facing each other. The museum’s own “Fast” route covers that floor in about 1½ to 2 hours. Room codes below follow the museum’s July 2026 map; the plain numbers in older guidebooks no longer apply.
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How the rooms are numbered
Every room on the current map has a letter and a number. A is the second floor, where the visit begins; B, C, D and E are the first floor, where it ends. The old plain numbers (“Room 35” for Leonardo, “Room 83” for Titian) are obsolete, so follow the artists’ names instead. Upstairs the sequence runs A1 to A7 for the 13th and 14th centuries, A8 to A16 for the early Renaissance, A17 to A23 for the Renaissance north of the Alps, and A24 to A42 for the High Renaissance. The three long corridors that join them (A2 east, A23 south, A24 west) hold the Medici collection of ancient statues and busts, so the walk between rooms is part of the collection.
If you only have 90 minutes
Stay on the second floor and follow the museum’s Fast route, which ends down the Lanzi staircase instead of continuing to the first floor. In order:
- A4: Giotto’s Ognissanti Maestà, with Cimabue’s Santa Trinita Maestà beside it
- A8: Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano
- A9 to A12: Botticelli, the Birth of Venus and Primavera
- A16: the Tribuna, with the Medici Venus
- A25: Piero della Francesca’s Duke and Duchess of Urbino
- A35: Leonardo’s Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi and the Baptism of Christ
- A38: Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch
One practical point: the Lanzi staircase bypasses the cloakroom and the audio-guide return desk, so if you have checked a bag or hired an audio guide, come down through the first floor to the main exit instead.
The second floor, room by room
| Room | What hangs there | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A4 | Giotto’s Ognissanti Maestà and Cimabue’s Santa Trinita Maestà; Duccio’s Rucellai Madonna is usually shown here too | Three enthroned Madonnas |
| A5 | Simone Martini’s Annunciation | The Sienese room |
| A7 | Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi | The last gold-ground room before the Renaissance sequence starts at A8 |
| A8 | Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano | Early Renaissance begins |
| A9 to A12 | Botticelli: the Birth of Venus and Primavera, each flanked by two Botticelli Madonnas | Reopened 16 June 2026; the two face each other in sealed cases. Allow the most time here |
| A16 | The Tribuna, with the Medici Venus | The Medici showpiece room |
| A25 | Piero della Francesca’s Duke and Duchess of Urbino, with Domenico Veneziano | The portrait pair of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza |
| A35 | Leonardo: the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Baptism of Christ with Verrocchio | All three Leonardo works in one room |
| A38 | Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch | The Fast route ends after this room |
| A39 | The Niobe Room | Sculpture hall of the Niobe group |
| A2, A23, A24 | The three corridors | The Medici ancient statues and busts line all three |
The first floor: Titian, Caravaggio and the self-portraits
The Classic and Complete routes continue here after the Michelangelo room. The 16th-century Florentine rooms come first: Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino in D12, Bronzino in D14. Titian’s Venus of Urbino is in D23 on the current map (the museum’s artwork page still says D22).
The Caravaggio rooms are the E group. E4 holds the Medusa, the Sacrifice of Isaac and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes; the Bacchus is next door in E5. E7 has Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. The self-portrait collection, which hung in the Vasari Corridor until 2016, is now in rooms C1 to C5 on this floor. The corridor itself is bare apart from Roman busts; its entrance is at the D19 meeting point beside the Venetian Chapel, for visitors with a corridor slot (see Vasari Corridor tours).
Allow at least an extra half hour for this floor. The Caravaggio rooms come last, so they are the ones a tired visitor skips.
Rooms closed for works this year
The museum’s closed-rooms notice runs from 1 April to 31 December 2026 and describes its list as constantly updated. Upstairs it names A17 to A21 (the northern Renaissance rooms) and A40 to A42; downstairs C7 to C12, D3 and D9 to D11. The museum says the works normally in A40 to A42 can be seen in C9 and C10. The notice also lists A9, one of the Botticelli numbers, but the Botticelli rooms reopened on 16 June 2026 and are open; the numbering around them is still settling, which is why they are best thought of as A9 to A12.
Two more things can shut a room on the day. Staff may close rooms or whole itineraries when attendance is high, and individual paintings go off display for loans and restoration, which the museum lists in fortnightly PDFs. If one painting is the reason for your visit, check that list the week before.
The terrace and the café
The café is on the second floor and opens onto a terrace with a view over the city. The map puts it at the end of the western corridor, by the Lanzi staircase, above the Loggia dei Lanzi. On the Fast route it is the last stop before the stairs down; on the longer routes, a break before the first floor. Eating and drinking in the rooms is forbidden (you may carry a bottle of water up to half a liter), so the terrace is where to pause. The Baby Pit-Stop room for feeding and changing is inside the same café, open until 6 p.m., and there are toilets on every floor.
Seeing the highlights with a guide
A guide solves the two problems a first visit has: knowing what to stop at, and knowing what to walk past. The Uffizi Gallery Priority Entrance and Tour ($95, rated 4.8 from 267 reviews) is a morning tour in a group of no more than nine, 1½ hours with a licensed guide, built around getting in before the usual crowds; the €29 ticket is included, you stay inside as long as you like afterwards, and it can be cancelled up to 24 hours ahead (our breakdown). The Renaissance Masterpieces Guided Tour ($84, 4.6 from 6,122 reviews) is the most-reviewed guided tour on this site, a 1½-hour visit with earpieces that finishes with the terrace; it also includes a luggage deposit at the operator’s office. Either covers the second-floor route above.
For most first-time visitors with a single morning, I would take the smaller group and the earlier start, and keep Titian and Caravaggio for after the guide has gone.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Birth of Venus in the Uffizi?
On the second floor, in the Botticelli rooms (A9 to A12 on the current map), which reopened on 16 June 2026 after a rehang. The Birth of Venus and Primavera now face each other in sealed display cases, each flanked by two Botticelli Madonnas. You reach them after the early Renaissance rooms.
Is Michelangelo’s David in the Uffizi?
No. The original David is in the Tribune of the Accademia Gallery, about 1.1 km away on Via Ricasoli, a separate museum with its own ticket. The Uffizi’s Michelangelo is the Doni Tondo, a painted Holy Family in room A38, shared with Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch.
Where is Caravaggio in the Uffizi?
On the first floor, in the E rooms near the end of the route. The Medusa, the Sacrifice of Isaac and Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith are in E4, and the Bacchus is in E5. The Fast route skips this floor, so if Caravaggio matters to you, plan on the Classic route of more than two hours.
Which rooms are closed in the Uffizi right now?
The museum’s notice for April to December 2026 lists A17 to A21 and A40 to A42 upstairs and C7 to C12, D3 and D9 to D11 downstairs, with the works from A40 to A42 shown in C9 and C10 meanwhile. The list changes as works progress, and staff may close further rooms on busy days.
How long does the Uffizi take?
The museum’s three routes are about 1½ to 2 hours for the second floor only, more than 2 hours adding Titian and Caravaggio downstairs, and more than 3 hours for everything. A reserved ticket has no time limit, so you can stay until the 6.30 p.m. exit call.
Can I take photos in the Uffizi?
Yes, for personal use, without flash, tripods, stands or selfie sticks; works on loan in temporary exhibitions are excluded. The museum’s own pages disagree on video, the visitor map forbidding it and the FAQ allowing amateur clips, so do not count on filming.
Related reading
- What to expect at the Uffizi Gallery
- Is a Uffizi guided tour worth it?
- Uffizi and Accademia in one day
Small-group options that walk this route are compared on the Uffizi guided tours page.
See the Uffizi With Your Entry Time Booked
A licensed guide, a reserved slot and headsets, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
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