Vasarian Staircase and Cabinet of Drawings and Prints

The grand staircase, by Giorgio Vasari, leading to the upper floors is adorned with busts and sculptures from different periods, mainly Roman copies of Greek originals.
On the second floor, on the left, is the entrance to the Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe. The collection of drawings and prints was started in the 17th century by Cardinal Leopold de' Medici.
At that time the collection was housed in the Pitti Palace. Cosimo III had it transferred to the Uffizi and rearranged by Filippo Baldinucci.
In the 1700s prints and drawings were placed in a room by the Buontalenti Tribune.

As the material continued to increase, they were moved to other rooms, until they found their final home in those built on the site of Buontalenti's old Medici Theater, which was destroyed at the end of the last century.

The collection has been greatly enriched to the present day through a series of purchases and donations and now includes some 50,000 drawings and 60,000 prints by Italian and foreign artists. Temporary exhibitions of considerable interest are held in the first room. Access to the other rooms, the photo library and the iconographic archive is allowed only to scholars. The collection includes drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Paolo Uccello, Beato Angelico, Pietro da Cortona, Rubens, and countless other artists of all ages.