The Secret Passage...

Before Catherine Medici gave away a sizeable chunk of the family fortune, the all powerful and obscenely wealthy Medici family didn't like to mix with the common folk that much. Something about the level of personal hygiene of the hoi-polloi ... and oh, the threat of assassination.  Actually the personal hygiene element is interesting (according to me) as it was compulsory to visit the terme for a wash on a regular basis ~ all free to the common person as the Medici and others worked out that a healthy seething mob was a happy seething mob. There were less problems for the state if there was less ill health due to poor personal hygiene. Allegedly the Medici paid well for good work on a similar basis.  Perhaps our current politicians could take note. 

Anyway, I digress.... the Vasari Corridor was the Medici secret passage so they didn't need to descend to street level. Think the third floor transverse corridor of Myer in years gone by... but over a kilometre in length. It was an emergency route in case of any attack, but mostly for a quiet stroll  past self portrait after self portrait from any painter of note across time. Clan Medici even had a chapel built with access from the Vasari corridor so they could hear mass and not been seen. I am starting to form the view that the Medici folk might have been alternate lifestylers of the "clothing optional" kind...

Another secret door experience, it did afford some lovely views of the Ponte Vecchio as well and the Arno River.

Below is but the first part of the corridor that twists and turns across the 1,000m distance.

Michelangelo... check... Raphael... check..and now Leonardo self portrait... now where is Donatello... (TMNT rock!)

Not completely sure why Da Vinci had the prescience to paint LED lights into his self portrait... but he was ahead of his time with the helocopter design and many other inventions.

Tubby Taylor and Fujitsu take note... this is how you do an air conditioner. Yep, with some spare change just lying about the Medici household bill dish, they commissioned their own 3 chamber grotto. Its one way to beat the heat of high summer... and the cost of a pool cleaner avoided.