The Florence Guides guide to museums and churches
Please remember that the last admission to museums is usually until one hour before closing time and to churches 30 minutes before closing time.
Please note that the admission fees to museums may change on the occasion of temporary exhibitions.
MUSEUMS
Uffizi Gallery
Perhaps
the most important art gallery in Italy
and the oldest museum in
modern Europe
a collection of masterpieces of Italian painting from
every period (Giotto
Botticelli
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo
Raphael
Titian
Caravaggio) and a selection of representative works
from foreign schools.
Piazzale degli Uffizi 6
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 08.15am – 6.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 08.15am – 6.50pm
Closed on Mondays
Entrance fee: Euro 6.50
Academy Gallery
This
gallery is famous for Michelangelo's celebrated sculpture of David
as well as the enormous Prisoners
the Saint Matthew and the
Pietà
Barberini
a work which still provokes much discussion.
Via Ricasoli 60
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 08.15am – 6.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 08.15am – 6.50pm
Closed on Mondays
Entrance fee: Euro 6.50
Palatine Gallery
This
collection
distributed amongst beautifully decorated rooms with
frescoed ceilings by Pietro da Cortona and
Ciro Ferri
maintains the
character of a royal gallery. It contains many important works
especially those of the 16th and 17th
centuries
such as the
portraits of the "Englishman" and Pietro Aretino by Titian;
the Madonna of the Chair by Raphael; the Sleeping Cupid
by Caravaggio;
and the Four
Philosophers by Rubens.
Piazza Pitti
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 08.15 – 6.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 08.15am – 6.50pm.
Closed
on Mondays.
Entrance
fee: Euro 8.50
Integrated ticket
Royal Apartments
Modern Art Gallery.
Silverware Museum (Museo degli Argenti)
Housed in the Grand Dukes' summer apartments in the Pitti Palace this museum consists of valuable collections of objects made with precious metals semi-precious stones crystal and ivory. Of particular interest are the semi-precious stone vases which belong to the collection of Lorenzo il Magnifico.
Piazza
Pitt
i
Opening hours:
Weekdays holidays and sundays: january february november and december : 08.15am – 4.30pm; march: 8.15am-5.30pm/closes one hour later during Eu summer time; april may september october: 8.15am-6.30pm/closes one hour earlier when eu summer time is over; june july august: 8.15am-7.30pm
Closed onthe first and last Monday of every month.
Entrance
fee: Euro 6.00. Combined ticket Porcellane Museum
Costume Gallery
Boboli Gardens and Bardini Garden.
Gallery of Modern Art
Housed on the second floor of the Pitti Palace a collection offering a complete panorama of Italian painting from Neoclassicism to the twentieth century together with a number of sculptures and works by foreign artists.
Piazza Pitti
Opening hours:
Weekdays:
08.15am – 6.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 08.15am– 1.50pm
Closed on Mondays
Entrance
fee: Euro 8.50
Integrated ticket Palatine Gallery
Royal
Apartments.
Costume Gallery
A collection of historic items of clothing that document the evolution of costume from the early 1700s to the beginning of the 20th century. The exhibited costumes are changed every two years.
Piazza Pitti
Opening hours:
Weekdays holidays and sundays: january february november and december : 08.15am – 4.30pm; march: 8.15am-5.30pm/closes one hour later during Eu summer time; april may september october: 8.15am-6.30pm/closes one hour earlier when eu summer time is over; june july august: 8.15am-7.30pm
Closed onthe first and last Monday of every month.
Entrance fee: Euro 6.00. Combined ticket Porcellane Museum Costume Gallery Boboli Gardens and Bardini Garden.
Piazza
Pitti /you can also enter from Forte Belvedere (Via S. Leonardo)
Opening
hours:
weekdays:
January
February
November and December: 8.15 am – 4.30 pm;
March:
8.15 am – 5.30 pm; April
May
September
October: 8.15 am
– 6.30
pm; October: 8.15am - 5.30pm: closing time one hour earlier at the
end of E.U. summer time; June
July
August: 8.15 – 7.30 pm;
the
ticket office closes one hour before the garden closing time.
weekdays:
January
February
November and December: 8.15 am – 4.30 pm;
March:
8.15 am – 5.30 pm; April
May
September
October: 8.15 am
– 6.30
pm; October: 8.15am - 5.30pm: closing time one hour earlier at the
end of E.U. summer time; June
July
August: 8.15 – 7.30 pm;
the
ticket office closes one hour before the garden closing time.
Closed:
first and last Monday of every month. December 25
January 1
May 1.
Entrance fee: Euro 6.00. Combined ticket Porcellane Museum Costume Gallery Boboli Gardens and Bardini Garden.
Medici Chapels
Splendid complex of chapels containing the Princes' mausoleum and Michelangelo's New Sacristy; location of the famous allegories of Day and Night of Twilight and Aurora.
Piazza
Madonn
a degli
Aldobrandini
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 08.15am – 1.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 08.15am – 1.50pm
Closed on Mondays except the second and fourth Monday of every month
Closed on Sundays except for the first third and fifth of every month
Entrance fee: Euro 6.00
Bargello Museum
An
extremely rich collection of works
mainly sculptures
housed in the
famous Palazzo del Podestà. It contains minor works by
Michelangelo
such as the Brutus
the Apollo
and the Baccus; the
Saint George and the David by Donatello; and the celebrated panels
presen
ted by
Brunelleschi and Ghiberti on
occasion of the competition
for the design of the Baptistry doors in 1401 which
according to art
historians
marks the beginning of the Renaissance.
Via del Proconsolo 4
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 8.15am – 1.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 8.15am – 1.50pm (open on the second and fourth Sunday of every month)
Closed on Mondays except the first third and fifth Monday of every month
Entrance fee: Euro 4.00
San
Marco Museum
This museum occupies the evocative and carefully restored buildings of the Dominican convent of Saint Mark. The collection of works by Beato Angelico is particularly remarkable.
Piazza San Marco 1
Opening
hours:
Weekdays (from monday to friday): 8.15am – 1.50pm
Saturdays: 8.15am – 6.50pm
Holidays and Sundays: 8.15am – 6.50pm (open on the second and fourth Sunday of every month)
Closed on the first third and fifth sunday of every month; closed on the second and fourth monday of every month
Entrance fee: Euro 4.00
Archaeological
Museum
One
of the most important and interesting archaeological museums in
Italy. Particularly noteworthy are the collection relating to the
Etruscan civilization
and the Egyptian section
established between
1824-28
and the most important collection in Italy after the
Egyptian Museum of Turin.
Via della Colonna 38
Opening hours:
Mondays: 2.00pm – 7.00pm
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 8.30am – 7.00pm
Wednesdays Fridays Saturdays: 8.30am – 2.00pm
Holidays and Sundays: 8.30am – 2.00pm
Entrance fee: Euro 4.00
Palazzo Vecchio (Palazzo della Signoria)
The most significant example of civil architecture in Florence and one of the most important Mediaeval public buildings in Italy. Inside the Victory by Michelangelo and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes are especially noteworthy.
Piazza della Signoria
Opening hours:
Weekdays
: 9.00 am– 7.00 pm
Thursdays 9.00am – 2.00pm
Holidays: 9.00 am– 7.00 pm. Midweek holidays: 9.00 am – 2.00pm (January 6 Easter Monday April 25 June 2 November 1 December 8 and 26).
Closed on December 25 January 1 Easter sunday may 1 august 15
Entrance fee: Euro 6.00. Combined ticket with Cappella Brancacci: Euro 8.00
Santa Maria Novella Museum
Includes part of the cloisters belonging to the convent and several annexes. The frescoes in green earth by Paolo Uccello are particularly beautiful representing stories from the book of Genesis especially the Great Flood and the Drunkenness of Noah.
Piazza Santa Maria Novella
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.00am– 5.00pm
Holidays: 9.00am – 2.00pm
Closed on Fridays and Sundays
Entrance fee: Euro 2.50
Museum of the Cathedral (Opera del Duomo)
A
recently-enlarged museum that contains important Florentine
sculptural works from the 14th and 15th centuries
including the
original sculptures from the Baptistry
the Cathedral and Giotto's
Bell-tower: Michelangelo's Pietà
tha
t the
artist had intended
for his own tomb
the "cantorie" by Donatello and Luca
della Robbia
and Donatello's dramatic "Magdalene in Penitence".
Piazza Duomo 9
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.30 am -7.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 9.00 am – 1.40 pm
Closed on December 25 January 1 Easter Sunday September 8
Entance fee: Euro 6.00
Cathedral's Dome (Brunelleschi's Dome)
A unique experience. More than 400 steps to climb inside this jewel of the Renaissance before reaching the highest point in the centre of Florence. An incomparable panorama!
Piazza del Duomo
Opening
hours:
Weekdays: 8.30 am – 7.00 pm
Saturdays: 8.30 am – 5.40 pm
Holidays and Sundays: closed
Entrance
fee: Euro 6.00
Giotto’s Bell-tower
Famous for the narrowness of the Gothic architecture the elegance of the polychrome finishing and the richness of the decoration.
Piazza
del Duomo
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 8.30 am- 7.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 8.30 am -7.30 pm
Closed from february 4 to february 14 2008. December 25 January 1 Easter Sunday September 8
Entrance fee: Euro 6.00
Museo del Tesoro di San Lorenzo (Treasure of San Lorenzo Basilica museum)
This new museum is aimed at proposing the outstanding patrimony of reliquaries and liturgical objects that has belonged to the basilica of san lorenzo for immemorable time. There are around forty artworks dating back to the xiv-xix centuries among which a suberb silver and silver-foiled cross by Michelozzo
Piazza San Lorenzo
Opening hours:
weekdays: 10 am - 5.30 pm
holidays:
closed From March to October: 1.30pm - 5.30pm
Closed:
Sunday and holidays
Entrance fee: Euro 3.50. Combined ticket with San Lorenzo church.
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
Considered
the prototype of residences for wealthy Florentines
it was built for
Cosimo il Vecchio
the grandfather of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Of
particular interest is the beautiful "Cavalcade of the Magi"
a remarkable fresco painted by Benozzo Gozzoli
and one of the most
significant and admired works of Florentine Renaissance painting.
Above all
it is noted for the portraits of well-known people of the
time.
Via Cavour 3
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.00 am- 7.00pm
Holidays and Sundays: 9.00 am -7.00 pm
Closed on Wednesdays
Entrance fee: Euro 4.00
Museum of Santa Croce (Opera di Santa Croce)
An evocative museum contained in two old refectories and several rooms which were once chapels between the first and second cloister. Inside Brunelleschi's celebrated Pazzi Chapel one of the most authentic and exemplary pieces of Renaissance architecture.
Piazza
S.Croce 16
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 1.00 pm – 5.30 pm
Entrance fee: Euro 5.00 (combined ticket Santa Croce Basilica and Santa Croce Museum)
Brancacci Chapel
The frescoes by Masaccio the most important work by this great innovator of Renaissance painting were according to Vasari the "School of the World" meaning they were the "textbook" which Renaissance painters studied and meditated upon.
Church
of Santa Maria del Carmine – Piazza Santa Maria del Carmine
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 10.00 am- 5.00 pm reservation requested
Holidays: 1.00pm – 5.00pm. Reservation requested
Closed on Tuesdays
Entrance fee: Euro 4.00 (combined ticket Brancacci Chapel and Palazzo della Signoria Euro 8.00)
The
houses that Michelangelo bought in the district of florence he loved
so much
later transformed into a palace following a plan already
drawn by the artist. Beautifully decorated with two important
juvenile artworks by the the divine maestro: the battle of the
centaures and the virgin of the steps.
Via
Ghibellina 70
Opening
hours:
Weekdays:
9.30 am - 2 pm. The ticket office closes 30 minutes before the museum
closing time.
Holidays
and sundays: 9.30 am - 2 pm. The ticket office closes 30 minutes
before the museum closing time.
Closed
on Tuesday. December 25
January 1
Easter.
Entrance
fee: Euro 6.50
An interesting XX century reconstruction of Dante Alighieri's birthplace built on the same location of his origal house which no longer exists.
Via Santa Margherita 1
Opening hours:
Weekdays:
Tuesday 10 am - 4 pm Wednesday and Friday 10 am - 3 pm Saturday 10 am
- 5 pm
Holidays
and Sundays: 10 am -5 pm
Closed
on Monday and Thursday
Admission fee: Euro 4.00
This
house was the residence of the english poets Robert and Elisabeth
barret browning when they lived in florence. The house has retained
the same number of rooms and layout and is furnished in much the same
style as it was in the brownings'day: it is still today full of an
atmosphere of the past.
Piazza
San Felice
Weekdays:
from April 1st to November 30th: Monday
Wednesday and Friday 3 pm -
6 pm.
Holidays
and Sundays: closed.
Closed
on Tuesday
Thursday
Saturday and Sunday
Entrance fee: free donation
Museo della Casa Fiorentina Antica (Palazzo Davanzati Musem)
The best surviving example of a mediaeval nobleman's house in florence. It is particularly interesting as an illustration of florentine life in the middle ages. It has been partly restored and the areas accessible to the public at present are the entrance hall the inner courtyard and on the first floor the sala madornale the sala dei pappagalli and the study room.
Via
Porta Rossa 13
Opening
hours:
Weekdays:
8.15 am - 1.50 pm; open second and fourth Monday of the month. Open
ground floor
Salone Madornale and Sala dei Pappagalli
Sale dei
Merletti.
Holidays
and Sundays: 8.15 - 1.50 pm - open first
third and fifth Sunday of
the month.
Closed:
the second and fourth Sunday of the month; the first
third and fifth
Monday of every month. December 25
January 1
May 1
Entrance fee: free
The Horne Museum takes ist name from the English collector Herbert P. Horne (1864-1916) who donated his palace and collections of a lifetime to the Italian State together with the palace where he had collected them.
Via
dei Benci 6
Opening hours:
Weekdays:
9 am - 1 pm; the ticket office closes 30 minutes before the museum
closing time.
Holidays
and Sundays: closed
Closed:
Sunday and Holidays
Entrance fee: Euro 5.00
Museo Storico Topografico "Firenze com'era" ('Florence as it was')
This off-the-beaten path museum has a very interesting display of maps paintings etchings and prints that accompany the visitor through the history of florence from its origins all the way through the XIX century when it became the capital of italy. Of particular interest is the so-called 'pianta della catena' (catena map) showing a bird's eye-view of florence in the XV century.
Via
dell'Oriolo 24
Opening hours:
Weekdays
: Monday Tuesday Wednesday 9 am- 2 pm; Saturday 9 am - 7 pm; from
June 1 to Sept 30: Monday and Tuesday 9 am - 2 pm; Saturday 9 am - 7
pm
Holidays
and Sundays: closed
Closed: Thursday and Friday; from June 1st to Sept. 30th: Wednesday Thursday Friday. December 25 January 1. -
Entrance fee: Euro 2.70
CHURCHES
Baptistery
The religious centre of the city and one of the oldest and most august buildings in Florence which Dante described as the "beautiful Saint John". It is also famous for the splendid "Gates of Paradise".
Piazza S.Giovanni
Opening
hours:
Weekdays: 12.00 pm – 7.00 pm. First saturday of the month: 8.30 am – 2.00 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 8.30 am -2.00 pm. Easter monday april 25 may 1: 8.30 am – 7.00 pm
Entrance fee: Euro 3.00
Santa Croce
One
of the most distinguished churches in Florence
and a masterpiece of
Florentine gothic architecture. It is famous for being the pantheon
of illustrious Italians (with the tombs of Michelangelo
Galileo
Machiavelli
Rossini). It is also celebrated for the frescoes of the
Bardi and Peruzzi chapels
one of the great Giotto's later works.
Piazza S.Croce
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: closed. From march to october 1.30 pm – 5.30 pm
Entrance fee: Euro 5.00. Combined ticket with the Santa Croce Museum
San
Lorenzo
Among the great masterpieces of religious architecture produced by the early Renaissance. The basilica is indissolubly linked with the Medici family. The church is renowned above all for the Old Sacristy designed by Brunelleschi and decorated by Donatello an authentic jewel of the Renaissance.
Piazza S.Lorenzo
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 10.00 am – 5.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: closed. From march to october: 1.30 pm - 5.30 pm
Entrance fee: Euro 3.50. Combined ticket with Museo del Tesoro di San Lorenzo.
Santa Trinita
Among
the oldest churches in Florence
it was built in the second half of
the 11th century
and later reconstructed in 14th century Gothic
style
perhaps by Neri di Fioravante. The stone Baroque facade was
designed b
y B.
Buontalenti.
Piazza Santa Trinita
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 8.00 am -12.00 pm /4.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Free admission
Santa Maria del Fiore (duomo)
An
illustrious religious monument facing the Baptistry
built according
to the large and simple lines that were typical of Florentine Gothic.
The "final Judgement" by Vasari and Zuccari
found on the
inside the cup
ola
is extraordinary.
Piazza Duomo
Opening hours: 10.00-17.00 (the first Saturday of every month 10.00-15.30); Thursday 10.00-15.30
Holidays and Sundays: 13.30-17.00
Free admission
Santa Maria Novella
One
of the most famous churches in Florence 
a
masterpiece of Gothic
architecture. Its facade was re-designed in the 15th century by a
Florentine architect
Leon Battista Alberti. Inside
the famous
Trinity by Masaccio
and Brunelleschi's beautiful wooden crucifix
are especially worth seeing.
Piazza S. Maria Novella
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm. Friday: 1.00 pm- 5.00 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Entrance fee: Euro 2.50
San Miniato al Monte
Perched on top of the hill close to Piazzale Michelangelo. The stairs leading up to the church offer a beautiful panoramic view of the city. Together with the Baptistry it represents the masterpiece of Romaesque architecture in Florence.
Via
Monte alle Croci
Opening hours:
Weekdays: (summer) 8.00 am -7.00 pm; (winter) 8.00 am -12.00 pm/3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Holidays and Sundays: (summer) 8.00 am -7.00 pm ; (winter) 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Free admission
Santissima Annunziata
A famous Florentine sanctuary which houses the venerated image of the Madonna Annunziata. Legend attributes the painting to a friar who waking from his sleep is said to have found that the face of the Virgin had been miraculously completed.
Piazza SS. Annunziata
Opening hours:
Weekdays: 7.30 am – 12.30 pm/4.00 pm – 6.30 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 7.30 am – 12.30 pm/4.00 pm – 6.30 pm
Free admission
Santo Spirito
Together with San Lorenzo this church is amongst the purest creations of early Renaissance architecture. It was begun in 1444 by Brunelleschi and continued according to his original plans following his death.
Piazza S.Spirito
Opening
hours:
Weekdays: 9.30 am – 12.30 pm/ 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Holidays and Sundays: 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Closed on Wednesdays afternoon
Free admission
OTHER PLACES OF WORSHIP
An elaborate building in the spanish-moresque style with a tall green dome an unmistakable feature in the florentine skyline. On the first floor you can visit the small but extremely interesting museum regarding the history of the jewish community in florence from its origins and with a display of ceremonial objects silver and vestments and old codices.
Via Farini 4
Opening
hours:
Weekdays:
From November to March: Monday to Thursday 10 am – 3 pm and
Friday
10 am – 2 pm; April
May
September and October: Monday to
Thursday
10 am – 5 pm and Friday 10 am – 2 pm; June
July
and August:
Monday to Thursday 10 am – 6 pm and Friday 10 am –
2 pm.
Holidays
and Sundays: From November to March: 10 am – 3 pm; April
May
September and October: 10 am – 5 pm; June
July and August:
10 am –
6 pm.
Closed:
Saturday. January 1. For Jewish holidays please contact the Community
offices ( +39 055 24 52 -52 or -53)
Entrance fee: Euro 5.00
