Florence, April 19, 2025 – The Uffizi Gallery has unveiled the newly restored Stanzino delle Matematiche, an intimate room adjacent to the Tribuna of Buontalenti, known for its original frescoes depicting scientific instruments and discoveries. The restoration reveals treasures that enhance the significant layering between the 16th-century museum and the 18th-century antiquities collection.
Director Simone Verde expressed the importance of this revitalization, stating, “For many years relegated to an overlook on the Tribuna, the restoration now highlights its treasures and underscores its vital role within the intellectual history of the Uffizi.”
The Stanzino underwent a thorough restoration that included recovery of the floors and walls, maintenance of the bronze statues housed in the niches, and the installation of a new lighting system that accentuates the uniqueness of the ceiling frescoes. This restoration aligns with the gallery’s mission to illustrate the museum’s evolution over the centuries.
Historically, after the completion of the restoration of the Tribuna in 2012, the Stanzino essentially became a mere entrance to the Tribuna, which had restricted access for preservation purposes. As a result, this space lost its primary function, turning into an anteroom for a significant period. The focused restoration, which lasted about two months and involved stratigraphic examinations, restored brightness to the room with a lighter color palette and enhanced the depth of the bronze niches by optimizing natural light.
“The room was largely relegated to merely overlooking the Tribuna, which deprived the public of appreciating its original value and significance within the Medici collection,” explained Verde. “In its new arrangement, which highlights its treasures, the Stanzino exemplifies how the Uffizi has fostered the growth of European museums.”
Originally established by Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici (1549-1609), the Stanzino delle Matematiche showcased a collection of scientific instruments initiated by his father, Cosimo I (1519-1574). This chamber housed technological devices, treatises on various scientific subjects, maps, city plans, and wooden models of war machines and fortifications.
Between 1599 and 1600, Giulio Parigi (1571-1635) frescoed the ceiling, featuring grotesque decorations where numerous panels illustrate renowned ancient and modern inventions. Figures such as Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Euclid, and particularly Archimedes, are celebrated—this period coincided with the arrival in Florence of the Greek manuscript of Archimedes’ works, preserved at the Biblioteca Laurenziana.
The Medici were known patrons of the sciences; Galileo dedicated his Sidereus Nuncius to Cosimo II de’ Medici and was commemorated as the new Archimedes in the gallery’s corridor frescoes. The Stanzino was historically linked to the Terrazza delle Carte Geografiche, which has also undergone comprehensive restoration, reflecting the gallery’s universal vocation.
Today, the Stanzino houses a unique collection of ancient and Renaissance sculptures of small dimensions, arranged in a series of niches created during the radical reorganization of the Tribuna between 1780 and 1782 under the guidance of Abbot Luigi Lanzi. The most valuable pieces previously displayed in the Sala Ottagona found a new home in the Stanzino, which, during the 19th century, saw the niches closed off. These treasures were rediscovered in the 1960s and have been minimally re-displayed, along with precious 16th-century bronzes by Willem Tetrode, originally intended for a grand medal case gifted to Cosimo I by Gian Francesco Orsini in 1562.
Photo credits: Property of the gallery.
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