[5] The cortile (internal courtyard) is so long, narrow, and open to the Arno at its far end through a Doric screen that articulates the space without blocking it, that architectural historians[6] treat it as the first regularized streetscape of Europe.

The project was intended to display prime artworks of the Medici collections on the piano nobile; the plan was carried out by his son, Grand Duke Francesco I.

He commissioned the architect Buontalenti to design the Tribuna degli Uffizi that would display a series of masterpieces in one room, including jewels; it became a highly influential attraction of a Grand Tour.

A project was finished in 2006 to expand the museum's exhibition space some 6,000 metres2 (64,000 ft2) to almost 13,000 metres2 (139,000 ft2), allowing public viewing of many artworks that had usually been in storage.

[17] On 27 May 1993, the Sicilian Mafia carried out a car bomb explosion in Via dei Georgofili which damaged parts of the palace and killed five people.

On 22 July 2022, members of the climate activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) glued themselves to the glass protecting Sandro Botticelli's Primavera demanding an end to fossil fuel usage.

[19] On 13 February 2024, members of Ultima Generazione glued images of flooding in Tuscany in 2023 to the glass protecting Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus in protest over the Italian government's inaction on climate change.

[20] The collection also contains some ancient sculptures, such as the Arrotino, the Two Wrestlers, Venus de' Medici, and the Bust of Severus Giovanni.