Museo di Casa Vasari

About the museum

Casa Vasari was bought by Giorgio Vasari in 1541 and described by him as “a house begun in Arezzo, with a site for making very beautiful gardens”, in the Borgo San Vito, in the best air of the city. The house has four levels: the basement, the piano nobile with direct views over the garden, the second floor, probably intended for servants and rather altered, and the attics. Next to the house extends the Italian-style hanging garden, originally larger and with kitchen gardens.

Vasari richly frescoed the rooms of the noble apartment following a programme celebrating the role of the artist, with mythological, biblical and allegorical references. In the Sala del Trionfo della Virtù the representation focuses on the artist and on the influence of the stars on human life, while in the Camera di Abramo, the bedroom, the God the Father blessing the lineage of Abraham stands out in the round of the ceiling.

In 1911, for the 400th anniversary of Vasari's birth, the house was bought by the Italian State to become a museum. In the 1950s it took on its present appearance, with the removal of the period furnishings and the installation of a small picture gallery with works by Vasari, his collaborators and other Tuscan painters, renewed in 2011. The paintings come largely from the Gallerie Fiorentine and represent the painters of the studiolo of Francesco I de' Medici. The house also keeps the Archivio vasariano, with the artist's correspondence, the Ricordanze and the Zibaldone.

Highlights

• Sala del Trionfo della Virtù frescoed by Vasari
• Camera di Abramo, the bedroom with the round painting on the ceiling
• Picture gallery with the painters of Francesco I's studiolo (Allori, Stradano, Santi di Tito)
• Vasari archive with the Ricordanze and the Zibaldone
• Italian-style hanging garden

Permanent exhibitions

• Sale affrescate e appartamento di Vasari – Rooms on the piano nobile decorated by Vasari: the Sala del Trionfo della Virtù, the Camera di Abramo, the Stanzino vasariano and the Cappellina.
• Quadreria e Archivio vasariano – Paintings of Tuscan Mannerism, especially by the painters of Francesco I's studiolo, and the archive with Vasari's correspondence.

Operated by

Ministero della Cultura – Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Toscana

Admission & discounts

For online purchase a €3 advance sales fee is added to each ticket, even free ones. Reductions and free admission follow the rules for state museums. Tickets at the museum ticket office and online at discoverarezzo.ticka.it; information on +39 0575 1696258.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

For deaf visitors the museum has audio and video guides of the museum in LIS (Italian Sign Language).

Kids & families

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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